


Cafe Zoe

by ChungHee22, mistyhollowdrummer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BFF!Jean, Bottom Eren Yeager, Cafe Owner!Levi, Carla died, Erwin/Mike, Eventual Smut, Everyone is basically in this, Grisha left -_-, I Tried, I'll add more tags as i go, I'm Bad At Tagging, It has been confirmed that it is infact Yeager, Jean/Marco - Freeform, M/M, Mikasa is Levi's cousin, O_O I know, Squad Levi are the employees, T-T, Titan-Haired Eren Yeager, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Ugh, Why is it Yeager when it's Jaeger?, and characters too, annnnnnnd now i feel stupid XD, barista!Eren, but there are minor pairings too!, hanji/moblit, i had no idea, i think, like Mikasa/Annie, main pairing is riren, rivaere - Freeform, slow-ish build, still gonna use Jaeger though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-03 21:59:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2889407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChungHee22/pseuds/ChungHee22, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistyhollowdrummer/pseuds/mistyhollowdrummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren Jaegars life was picture perfect. He had a loving mom and a successful doctor for a dad. The Jaegar household was always full of love and happiness.</p>
<p>*cue dun dun dun music XD*</p>
<p>After his mom's death, Eren's father turned into a very cold man, and Eren was basically alone since then. When Eren graduated from high school and was getting ready to go to his dream college, his father bought him an apartment, a car, 50 grand and kicked him out.</p>
<p>Since he got a full ride through college, Eren was fine when it came to college tuition, but 50 grand can only last for so long. With some help from his best friend Jean, Eren eventually finds a job at the on campus cafe, Cafe Zoe, which is co owned by a crazy lady who has an obsession with things called 'titans', and a super hot shorty who may or may not have an eye out for the Jaegar booty. ;-}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Strip Clubs and Job Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, here we go!
> 
> Hello readers ^_^. This is my first fanfic ever, so I would love to receive feedback so I can make it better for you guys! If my story sucks please let meh know. Thank you. I'm also collabing with on of my favorite fanfic authors, mistyhollowdrummer, so this fanfic shouldn't be that unbearable. XD Ok, I'll stop talking now so you guys can read. 
> 
> RAMEN NOODLES~ XD (\^_^/)

 

“What the hell am I doing here?”

“What are you doing here? You’re here to get interviewed for a part time job of course!”

“No seriously, Jean, what the fuck am I doing at a strip club?!”

I was currently standing in front of a strip club with my best friend since we’d both been in diapers, Jean. Ah, by the way, I’m Eren Jaeger. Nice to meet you. 

Now.

The reason I was standing in front of a stip club with Jean was because I was in need of a part-time job. Ever since my so called father kicked me out of the house once I graduated high school, with an apartment and $50,000, I had pretty much been on my own since that day (besides Jean), but who needed that asshat anyway? Fuck him.

My father would have never done something like that when I was younger. Once my mom died when I was 10, he changed. He showed me no love or any kind of attention. It was like I wasn't even there! So we grew apart, barely speaking to each other, with the occasional ‘hey’ and ‘how was school?’.

My mom’s death was a very sensitive topic for me, since we were both so close. I rarely talked about it.

Anyway, you’d think ‘Oh Eren, do be such a wuss. 50 grand is plenty of money to survive!’ Riiiiiiiight, but with hair gel costing a fucking arm and a leg nowadays, 50 grand could be gone in an instant. So I knew that I’d need to get some kind of job, so I wouldn't end up half dead on the side of the road somewhere. 

Jean, being my fairly smart best friend, decided that he’d help me find a part-time job. He picked out a couple that were pretty decent, but the job I enjoyed most was my previous job at a local bar near his apartment.

Kept that job for about a year, but once a drunk guy tried to take my virginity on the bar top, he ended up in the hospital with a broken arm, and I realized that bar-tending wasn't for me.

Now I said that Jean is fairly smart, meaning that he could be very stupid when he wanted to be. And there have been many times where I have been questioning where the hell my friends brain had crawled and died.

Like now.

In front of a flipping strip club.

“You said you were still looking for a job and I thought that you could find one here. What’s the problem?” Jean asked looking confused.

“Yeah I still need a job, but not at a fucking strip club! How the hell did you expect me to get a job here?!”

“Thought you could get on the stage, shake your little virgin ass, get laid, and earn money. Shouldn't be that hard, right?” Jean shrugged, smirking.

See, by now someone would have a black eye and a few broken ribs, but since this prick was my best friend I reigned in my anger. Knitting my brow in frustration, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, looked Jean in the eye and said, “I’m leaving.” Then turned and started walking to my car.

Jean called to me, but I ignored him, opting to continue my journey to the car. After a couple of seconds, another pair of footsteps followed mine. 

“Look, Eren. I’m sorry. I shouldn't have even brought you here.” He sounded like he felt bad, ashamed even. 

Nudging him playfully, I responded, “Don’t worry about it horseface.” Jean stuck out his tongue and I grinned. 

Jean let out a sigh. I looked at him, signaling for him to say what was on his mind. “But seriously dude, I was really hoping you’d get laid.” I snorted at him.

“Sorry babe, I don’t give up the goods that easily.”  
“Apparently. I offered to fuck you I don’t know how many times, and you’d always turn down my offer. You really did pass up some good opportunities.”

I stared at him from the corner of my eye silently. Then something hit. Jean had left himself wide open. Smirking, I retorted, “Sorry, I don’t ride horses.” I turned to look at Jean, and found him staring right back at me, a look of disbelief on his face. My smirk turned into a full blown grin of mischief. Jean looked away and buried his head in his hands. By now, we had stopped walking.

“Oh my god, Jaeger, that was the worst pun I've ever heard.” And that’s when I lost it and burst into laughter. I caught a glimpse of Jean looking at me between his fingers, smiling back at me.

Once my laughter calmed down, we continued our walk to the car in a comfortable silence.

~~~~~~~~~~

When we got in my 2014 KIA Soul, Jean offered to buy me a couple of drinks at our favorite bar, Maria. I agreed of course, because who would pass up on free alcohol? I sure as hell wouldn't. 15 minutes later, we were sitting at the bar in Maria, sipping on martinis and talking. 

I wanted to dance a little, so we got on the dance floor and jammed to whatever was playing until our feet hurt. I didn't even know what time it was, but I was feeling tired and thought it was time to call it a night, but Jean had other plans. He ordered us some more drinks, and we talked some more until it got really late.

And that’s where it all went downhill from there.

Now ya see, Jean is a little bit of a lightweight, and when I mean a little bit, I mean a lot. He was already slurring, saying he wanted to go dance a little bit more before we head home. 

The dick in me would let him hobble onto the dance floor and laugh at him make a fool of himself, but he was my best friend, and even though he could be the biggest asshole in the universe, I couldn't do that to him. So, I tipped the bartender, grabbed him from under his armpits and lugged him to my car. 

I started to drive back to Jeans apartment, but then Jean slurred out ‘fucking feed me you asshole!’. I growl in frustration but does as he asks and pull into the nearest fast food place. Turns out to be Taco Bell. 

We pull into the drive through and I roll down the window to say my order into the speaker. After asking Jean what he wants, he skims over the menu to find something good. I wouldn't have minded if it took him a couple of minutes to choose something to get, but after 15 minutes of honking from the impatient man behind me, the lady in the speaker nagging me, and Jean constantly saying ‘uuuuuuh’ I had, had enough.

So I yelled. Told Jean to hurry the fuck up and choose something before the dude behind me runs into the back of my KIA, which I will NOT allow. And do you know what this prick said to me?

He said he wasn't fucking hungry anymore.

I zoomed out of the drive thru, having had it up to here with his bullshit. It was late, I was tired and having to deal with a drunk Jean on top of that was not pleasant in the least.

The 30 minute drive to his house only took 10 minutes. Thank god there were no police out tonight, cause I think I ran like, 10 red lights.

Pulling into the apartments parking lot, I got out of the car, literally had to drag the drunk out of the car and up the stairs because he was tired and wanted to sleep. Well woop-dee-fucking-doo, so was I, horseface!

When I finally managed to lug the drunk to his door, I knocked and in a few seconds Jean’s boyfriend, Marco appeared, a look of sympathy on his face. 

“He got drunk again huh?” Marco asked, chuckling.

I grunted in confirmation and tossed Jean to Marco. Marco apologized, but I just waved him off, saying it was ok, that I was used to it by now.

With all that said and done, I went to my car and finally headed home. Thank god my apartment building had an elevator, because I don’t think I could manage walking up anymore stairs tonight.  
Stepping out of the elevator, I walked towards my apartment. Turning the bend, I bumped into a short dude with black hair. He hissed at me and said “Watch where the fuck you’re going, brat.” And I was soooo fucking done to put up with anybody's shit, that I actually looked him dead in the eye and growled at him.

The short man stopped and stared at me for a second in what seemed like shock and disbelief that someone actually didn’t let his comment slide, but I was fucking Eren Jaeger and I do as I please. And with that, I walked to my apartment door and all the way to my apartment door, I could feel the dude staring, but was too tired to care. 

After unlocking and re-locking my door, I tossed my coat on the couch, and started to strip all the way to my bedroom. By the time I got there I was in my boxers, a trail of clothes behind me. Eh, I’d pick them up tomorrow.

Flopping onto the bed, I was finally able to close my eyes and started to drift off to sleep. Then what I had actually planned on doing today came back to me.

My eyes flew open as I jumped off the bed and rushed to my desk. Booting up my computer and opening Word, I found what I had started working on before Jean called me about my job search.

It was my two page essay for my marine biology class that I hadn’t even started yet. 

I groaned, rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to wipe away the sleepiness in them. Glancing at the clock, I finally realized how late it was.

It was 1 a.m.

I had a marine biology essay due tomorrow, or today, whatever the hell you call it, at 8:30 a.m., and I haven’t even started yet. I groaned in frustration.

“Fuck my life.”


	2. College Life for an Artist

I wasn’t all too keen on waking up to, not my alarm, but the fire alarm of my neighbor’s apartment. It wasn’t anything serious; their kid had simply burnt some pop tarts in the microwave, but all the same, I was woken up ten minutes before my alarm went off. I had kept myself up all night to finish my paper, and only got a little bit of sleep because of it.

I got dressed painfully slowly, and I ate breakfast the same way. I wasn’t in the highest of spirits to go to college today, only because I had my general classes today: Algebra Two, Earth and Science, and Marine Biology. Those were the classes every college student, like myself, had to take. I first thought that, once you hit college, everything was different. The only differences I saw were my Majors and minors, and that was about it.

I was majoring in art, minoring in photography. I used the pictures I took to help my art, but it’s not like I loved photography. I needed something else to do, and photography seemed… Well, less of a hassle… At the time.

I wished they had told me sooner that I would need to get my own camera, or my own photography editing software. Had it not been for Marco hacking my computer and getting me one for free (Which was illegal, yes, but college students can’t simply throw nine hundred dollars into one program for a semester or two never to use again), I’d be failing right about now. Of course Jean had an old camera of his that he said he never used anymore. He got it for a job a few years back in his early days of high school, but after that, he stopped using it.

He showed me the ropes of using it, which buttons to push, which shutter was good for what situation, and then went on for an hour about angles a photo should be taken. I wasn’t happy about that either, but that got me better grades than I had imagined, so I couldn’t call it a serious loss.

After that, I was set. I had everything I needed for that course, and I didn’t care what money I had to spend for art. I loved to draw, loved to paint, I even liked some graphic arts on the computer. I had loved it for such a long time, and it was what got me here to this school. Well, that and my so called “father.” He would have done everything and anything to get me out of the house, even pay for my tuition, which wasn’t cheap.

I knew fifty thousand dollars wouldn’t last me long. School was expensive, gas was expensive, and I had to eat. That’s why I was looking for a job. I didn’t want anything fancy or simple, but anything was better than working at a strip club like Jean had so kindly taken me to.

Please. Even I have some Goddamn standards.

And remembering the guy I called a friend, I remembered that I couldn’t dwindle on time. He, as well as Marco, were rather picky about their schedules; Marco even more so than Jean. They needed to be at certain places at certain times when it was called for. Usually Jean drove to school on his own, but I knew the guy had a hangover from last night, so I had to go get him and Marco, which meant that, if I didn’t want to hear the wrath of Marco and his anxiety taking over, I needed to leave in ten minutes and be there within a good amount of time.

So, after putting my dishes in the sink and shucking on a heavier jacket than what I had on last night, because it was getting too cold for a simple raincoat, I left. I got into my car, blasted the heat on, waited for my car to warm up a little, and then left. It didn’t take me long to get to their place, and I was glad to see that Marco wasn’t upset for any time schedules thrown off balance. He got into my car with a smile and his rosy cheeks, mostly from the cold I was sure.

“Good morning, Eren.” He greeted in his usual chipper mood. Marco was such a morning person, so much that it was a little disgusting.

“Morning, Marco,” I said and covered my mouth to hide a yawn. Jean crawled into the back seat, sluggish and barely keeping his balance as he shut the door quietly behind him. _“Good morning, Jean!”_ I yelled as loud as I could, enough to get Marco to cover his ears, but Jean groaned painfully in the backseat. I almost felt a little bad for him.

“I’d be careful, Eren. Jean was up so late last night puking his guts out.” Marco warned with an impish grin.

“Ah, still hung over?” I asked and started to drive to our school. All I received was another pleading groan as the guy slumped over onto the window. I heard a small sigh, obviously him being content with the temperature of the window.

“Eren, did you get those equations filled out from last week’s class?” Marco asked while looking into one of his books.

“Uhm… What equations?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes on the road.

“Mr. Shadis gave us an assignment last week… We were supposed to write down the equations on page six fifty-two… Ring a bell?” Marco asked, pausing in between each statement to let the words sink in.

They did.

“Shit…” I cursed, lightly hitting my hand against the wheel.

“Aha, I figured as much.” He said, an all knowing smile on his lips.

“I’m sorry, Marco. I just forgot with all of this stuff going on.” I uttered, feeling terrible that I couldn’t get them down. Marco worked a lot, and I told him I would do that for him last week, because he was working overtime all week long. He wasn’t as fortunate as I was to get kicked out of the house with fifty grand. He had to work for his money.

I didn’t do his homework often. Every now and again, I’d help him out, but truthfully, he hated getting help. He wanted to do it on his own. I actually had to pull his leg to convince him to let me do it for him, and I completely forgot about it.

“It’s okay, Eren. I know you’re going through some things too.” Marco assured, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

“I shouldn’t have said I would do it if I wasn’t going to do it in the end.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, man.” Jean slurred from the backseat. “I got ya both covered, so just relax a bit…” He said that, followed by some immediate snoring.

“You know, there are some home remedies for hangovers.” I suggested.

“What are those?” Marco asked.

“If there wasn’t a car behind me, I’d slam on the breaks and show you myself.”

* * *

“Eren, stop snickering.”  Jean growled, his head down against the desk.

“I’m sorry, it’s just too funny.” I muttered, a hand over my mouth and hiding the excessive amount of laughing I was doing.

“How was it funny? I just got stuck with an extra assignment!” He barked, his head turning away to look at Marco, but more importantly, to look away from me.

“You’re the one sleeping in class. It’s not my fault.” I said while closing up my book.

“You couldn’t have woken me up…?” Jean continued to mutter.

“If we’re being honest here, I _did try_ to wake you up, Jean.” Marco said, a cheeky grin on his face. “You were so out of it though, I thought Shadis would have a better time doing it than I did.” After that, Jean groaned. I shrugged my backpack over my shoulder and stood up from our table, Marco following in my lead while Jean continued to groan.

“Come on, let’s go get lunch.” I suggested. “IHOP today?”

“Don’t we always go there?” Jean asked, turning to finally look at me.

“You’re complaining?” Marco asked.

“Hell nah.”

After we all agreed to go, we went there. It was busy, per the usual. Whoever thought it was a good idea to open up this place on a college campus was a genius, a very rich genius.

We got a table to the far left corner of the restaurant, far away from other wandering eyes and ordered our drinks. Here, we could talk about assignments, Jean’s extra assignment, and anything else we wanted to talk about. I’d mentioned the guy I saw on my way to my apartment, how I sneered at him and how he seemed surprised that I had even thought of fighting him head on. Jean’s statement was, and I quote, “That’s just a ghost that lives around there. Probably some succubus that wants to sleep with you. Ya know that’s he’s gotten a good look at you from behind.”

“Don’t you think that would be a turn off?” I asked, and our table broke out into fits of laughter. We only stopped when we got strange looks from others at tables nearby, making us quiet down. Why he ducked our heads down onto the table and started whispering like a couple of kids, I couldn’t even answer for you.

“Do you think this place is hiring?” Marco asked a little after we got our meals.

“Alright, I get it. Jean, you don’t have to rope Marco into this to help me find a job.” I said while stabbing at my mashed potatoes angrily. Jean gave me a perturbed look, like what I said had utterly confused him and insulted him.

“Uhm, no Eren. I-I was actually hoping they were hiring so I could apply.” Marco corrected me. I flushed what must have been obvious blush from ear to ear, feeling the tips of my ears burn with embarrassment.

“S-Sorry, Marco…” I apologized, wanting to hide my face in my food, but that would draw more attention, wouldn’t it?

“No, it’s okay. Jean is always talking about how you need a job, so I could understand the confusion.” Marco said.

That perfect angel.

“Speaking of it though, why don’t you try here, Eren?” Jean asked while chewing on his pancakes. “It’s not glamorous or anything, but it’s a job not far from home or school. It’d be rather perfect for either of you.”

“Nah, this place isn’t my cup of tea.” I mumbled and shrugged my shoulders.

“Why not?” Marco asked.

“Just… Not something I think I’d look forward to setting my alarm for in the morning.”

“No one says you have to do it for the rest of your life. It’s only for a little bit of time, at least until college is over with.” Jean told me.

“I know,” I grumbled, my head slowly sinking lower until my chin touched the table.

“It’s not permanent either, Eren. If you don’t like it here, you could always quit.” He continued.

“I _know_.”

* * *

“You’ve got your art class next, don’t you?” Marco asked while adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

“Yep, but we’ve got an easy day today. We’re just working on our water paintings. What about you?” I asked as we walked along the little street.

“Yeah, just geography, but I’ve got a test next class, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for it.” The taller teen said while rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’ll be fine, Marco.” Jean reminded him and elbowed his side.

“Yeah, good luck, man.” I said and patted his shoulder. This kind of attention seemed to be just a little more comforting for Marco. He was very easy to reassure, or maybe he just acted like it. He could have been faking it.

“Thanks guys,” He said with the classical Marco smile, dimples and all accentuated by his big freckles. From the corner of my eyes, though I wasn’t really trying to focus on it, I could see Jean ogling the teen beside me. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but it was hard to do when the two of them, mostly Jean, were lovey dovey.

It was just another way to remind myself that I was forever alone.

I couldn’t be mad at them though. No, never at them. The two of them had been together since high school, the typical high school sweethearts. I was just never good at being in relationships, which would explain why I was so bitter towards the idea of _“relationships.”_

“Oh, look at that.” Marco muttered, pulling me from my depressing thoughts. I looked up to him and to the hand that was pointing elsewhere, finding his attention drawn on something up ahead. I followed his pointing finger to a café not far away, right at the corner of the block with a few people walking in and out of it.

“Huh, is that place new?” Jean asked as we walked closer.

“No, I’ve seen it here for a while. Maybe a year or so?” Marco asked himself, trying to recollect his memories. “I’ve walked by it a few times. It’s just never been this busy.”

“Why is it that I haven’t noticed yet?” I asked as we walked up to it. Marco simply looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I looked away from him and into the shop window, observing the little café and the people inside.

There was only one woman at the register, a chipper looking woman with her brown hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Her glasses covered up her big, brown eyes, and her grin stretched from ear to ear. She was laughing up a storm, and so was the costumer she was working with. There were four more people in line behind the man standing at the register, but they all seemed to be laughing at something or another. She must have told one hell of a joke.

“They’ve got a good sale on chocolate cakes today. Maybe that’s why they’re so busy.” I told him.

“Looks pretty quaint in there,” Jean mentioned. “Maybe we should have lunch there sometime?” He suggested questionably.

 “Could we get something now, Jean?” Marco asked, giving the guy puppy eyes and a big lip.

“If we didn’t have a test, I’d say sure, but we need to go.” Jean said, feeling terrible for hurting his boyfriend’s feelings. Marco pouted, but he nodded his head nonetheless. I did feel bad for him, but who could blame him?

I could smell the scent of cake wafting through the air, its scent strong and overpowering any usual smells around the area. I thought I could smell some coffee added into the mix, but I couldn’t be too sure. I wasn’t sure if it was from this café or from someone else somewhere further off, but the smell itself was intoxicating.

Truly, how hadn’t I noticed this place before? How hadn’t I noticed the lines, the people, the smells, and the atmosphere; how hadn’t I noticed any of it.

As Jean and Marco started waved goodbye to head their separate ways to class, I looked up at the sign bolted above the café. My eyes looked over the fancy cursive writing, making out the little details that seemed to be so personal, that it looked to be added in almost.

 _“Café Zoe…”_ The words fell from my lips as I read the sign, my eyes lingering on the white carvings in the wood.

I was going to have to remember this place for another time.

* * *

Looking over my painting, I could say I was quite content with how it was coming out. The oranges, reds, and browns of the leaves on the trees contrasted with the dark and light blues of the waters under the bridge. The sky in the background was a nice orange, the sight of a setting sun over the grounds of what seemed to be a park.

I could say that I was content, but that was only if I was.

While everything was true about the picture, I couldn’t help but feeling like something was missing. My painting was missing something that would complete it, just one thing, but what? I had already decided that people couldn’t be in the picture. I didn’t want to add anyone into it. However, it was still missing something, something more that would make this painting so different from everyone else’s and what they were doing, which was admittedly very similar to mine.

Some of the other students did paintings of winter scenery, others of spring or summer, but I chose fall. Fall colors were always the best to work with, because they weren’t boring colors. Sure, some people could look at them and say that they’re colors resembling death, because everything was dying during fall, but that’s not how I saw it.

I saw it as everything making room for new life.

So why did this picture look so off to me?

“Wow, that looks great, Eren.” I jumped in place, trying not to drop my palette of paint when another presence made itself known to me. I looked over to my side, finding another one of my classmates sitting beside me, his eyes momentarily startled by my reaction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you.” He apologized with a light laugh.

“It’s okay, Armin.” I told him and smiled. “So you think it looks okay?”

“Not just okay. It’s really pretty,” He awed while pushing his glasses up on his face. The poor kid was terribly farsighted, and no amount of contacts could fix that.

Honestly, Armin was one of the few people I could tolerate in school. He was level headed, kind, and caring, and he was far smarter than any of the beer gutted idiots I saw walking around. He was short for his age, and unfortunately he suffered from a number of bigger, meaner idiots picking on him, but since I met him and stood up for him, people seemed to back away.

He was definitely a good friend to me, and he always had something nice to say about anything I did. He wasn’t a yellow belly towards art either, but he definitely didn’t like anything he did himself.

“If anything, the one you’re working on right now is really far better.” I saw, motioning to his painting not far away.

Unlike everyone else, he decided to go with the ocean settings in the heat of summer. It was no secret that he loved the ocean, and he always showed it with his artwork.

“Aha, really…? I don’t think it looks good…” He muttered and rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Oh please, Armin, it’s incredible. It’s coming together really well. Another hour or so and you’ll be done, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, but that’ll be for tomorrow.” He said and kicked his legs out from under him to catch himself as he stood up.

“Why tomorrow…?” I asked.

“Because class is over, and it’s time to go home,” He said. I frowned as I looked up at clock on the wall, my eyes reading the time as the second marker ticked away.

“Oh…”

“Got kind of lost in your painting again, didn’t you?” Armin teased and elbowed my side.

“I guess so. It’s so easy to do though.” I sighed and set my palette down.

“I can’t disagree with you there.” He said. “Want me to help you clean up anything?”

“Nah, I’m okay.”

“You sure?” He asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, I just need to wash my brushes and palette off really. That’s a job a big boy like me can do.” I reassured. Armin laughed as he draped a cover over his painting to keep anything from getting on it.

“Sure you can, Eren.” He openly joked and shucked his backpack on. “I’ll see you tomorrow then…?”

“Same time, same place.” I responded while busying myself with washing my things in the sink.

“Alright, see you tomorrow.” Armin said. I nodded my head and waved as he left the room, an after looking around, I found that it was just me and the teacher, who was sitting at her desk. I didn’t feel like talking to her, or anyone for that matter, so I went about cleaning up my stuff and area so I could leave.

Just before leaving though, I covered my painting with a draping to keep it safe, without smearing any of the paint that could still be wet of course. I looked over it once more, frowning at the painting that was still incomplete.

There was still something missing. I didn’t know what, but it was something important.

* * *

After leaving my classroom, therefore ending my school day, I headed back to the parking lot to go home. It was as I was walking towards my car, however, that I saw Jean leaning against it, arms crossed over his chest, and as soon as he saw me, his lips quirked up into an all knowing smirk.

Oh no.

“Hey, Jean, what are you doing here?” I asked as I fiddled with my keys. “Marco usually picks you up after classes.”

“He’s in the car.” Jean said while motioning to Marco’s car parked not too far away.

“Oh… So what’s up then?” I asked while moving to the driver’s side of my car.

“Ya know, I looked into that Café Zoe place not far from here. Turns out they’re hiring there.” Jean told me while wiggling his eyebrows. I glared up at him.

“Jean, no.” I asserted and moved to get into my car, but just before I could sit down, Jean shut the car door on me and placed a piece of paper against my window.

“Eren, just look into it.” He said, and it was then that I realized that the piece of paper was a job application.

“No, Jean,” I said again.

“Why…?” He asked.

“It’s just… Not what I want to do.” I muttered and shook my head.

“Eren, let me ask you something. In this entire world, how many people do you think work at a grocery store at registers, work at retail counters, or cart around boxes for a living and say they love their jobs?” He asked me.

“… I don’t know.” I answered honestly.

“I can tell you right now that it’s a lot more than the people who are doing what they want to do. In this day and age, you can’t be picky about doing what you do if it means paying the bills, and you’re a college student just trying to make it by. There’s nothing wrong with working in a small place like this to get through school, and who says it’s permanent? Eren, if you truly hate the job, then you can quit! No one says you need to stay there forever.”

I sighed and looked down at the application he was still holding. He made very good points in his argument, but still…

“Besides, it’s a small café looking for a little help. You wouldn’t be dealing with too many shitty ass customers as you would while working at a place like Walmart, you’d be around food all day, and it’s not a busy place. You could work at a lot worse places, like that strip club I told you about.”

“Okay, Jean, I get it.” I growled.

“Eren, at least apply and talk to the manager. When I talked to her, she seemed really nice, if not a little crazy. Just try it out. You could always quit if you really hated it that much.” Jean moved his hand, letting my car door open up for me. I sat down in my seat and looked up at him, not intending the glare, but squinting when the sun got in my eyes.

“And what if she hates me?” I asked. “I’m not good with people really.”

“Because you’re too angry, I know. Honestly, she seems like the type of person that’s very understanding, has a lot of patience, and is really hard to piss off. You might find yourself trying to make her mad and failing.” He said.

I looked down at his hand again, looking at the single piece of paper. I bit the inside of my lip, chewed on it a bit, and then let out a heavy sigh before grabbing the paper from him roughly.

“I’ll think about it. I can’t promise any magic to happen.” I told him. Jean smiled and nodded his head, his hand hitting the rim of my car door.

“Awesome! This is good, Eren, I’m telling you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time.” I grumbled and shut the door, leaving Jean to stand outside by his self. He knocked on my window, and when I looked up, he waved his hand.

“See you tomorrow!” He yelled against the glass, and then ran off. I watched him run to Marco’s car and get in, but that was the last I saw of his horse face as they drove off to head back home.

I sighed again.

Looking down at the application, I read over the requirements that needed to be filled out and the questions that needed to be answered: Name, address, date of birth, blah blah blah. Have I ever been convicted of a felony? If marked yes, please tell us what it was.

It was wrong that I was very tempted to mark _yes_ and _for murder_ , wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone~! Misty here with the fabulous ChungHee22 in a wonderful collaboration for a fanfic. I'm super excited about this fanfic, because this is my first ever collab with someone else. I'm also super nervous. ^^' Like, I'm confused as to which direction the story should go, relationships, ages, pasts, and all of that fun stuff. I'm left with blanks, so it adds to some of the suspense. Even I don't know where it'll go from here!  
> So, with that being said, I hope you guys really enjoy this story! I saw really great reviews from the first chapter made by my pal, so I hope this one doesn't ruin it for you. ^^'  
> -Misty


	3. Finally Applied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who finally came back and wrote a chapter~  
> Hello! Long time no see peoples. i finally got chapter 3 done! Sorry for the wait. I had a bit of writers block in the beginning, but once I started, the only thing that took so long was actually writing it out. Thank you Misty for helping fix all of my crappy mistakes! Alrighty, please enjoy the new chapter and make sure you READ the author's note at the end of this chapter. Ok, enjoy~ ^_^

 

After having my little talk with Jean in the college parking lot and staring at the application he gave me for a bit, I plugged my I-pod into the usb port, buckled up and headed home.

As I pulled onto the street, the soft melody of a piano came through the speakers of my car. Upon hearing those few piano notes, I instantly recognized the song. It was one of my favorite Kpop songs **_Love Song_** by Rain. It was one of the many Kpop songs that filled my I-pod, and even though I couldn’t speak a lick of Korean, you could always find me singing along perfectly to whatever played. I was a dedicated Kpop fanboy and damn proud of it too.

I was taken out of my thoughts when the build up to the chorus of the song flowed into my ears. I loved singing the chorus and I wouldn’t miss a chance at singing it again. Parting my lips, the lyrics flowed out:

_“Han sungan nae mome iksokhaetdeon ni soni nal mironae_

__

_Naneun oddeokhae naneun oddeokhae_

__

_Oneuldo ddeonagan noye sumkyeor ajikdo_

__

_Neol saranghae_

__

_Naneun oddeokhae naneun oddeokhae jebal…_

__

_Oh~ Jebal... Dorawa…”_

 

“Take it away, Rain~”, I said in a sing song voice, and on cue, he started to sing again. Sighing with satisfaction I set my eyes to the road, searching for a good drive through to stop at and grab dinner. I was starving after a long day at school and there really wasn’t any food in the fridge. I made a mental note to go grocery shopping tomorrow as I pulled into a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.

Pulling up by the speaker I was greeted by the usual “Welcome to Chick-fil-A! What can I get you?”

Crap, I hadn’t thought of what I wanted before I got here. Sighing I responded, “Sorry, could you give me a minute.”

“Sure, take your time and let me know if you need help with anything!”, the voice (a girl?) said back. I hummed and look to the menu next to the speaker. What I was greeted with made my mouth go dry and my wallet scream.

The meal that I wanted to get was a Chicken Club Sandwich combo meal. Everything was all well and dandy until I took a look at the price. $8.39. Like, what the fuck? $8.39 for a sandwich, drink and fries? What the hell?!

I mean, I’d understand it costing maybe $5, or at the highest $6, but $8.39 was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much. _If they think I’m gonna buy an eight dollar sandwich, fry and drink, they got another thing coming._

I looked at some of the cheaper option on the menu and was about to speak, when my stomach grumbled with such force that it made me hunch over the steering wheel. I groaned, not only because I was hungry but because I was tired, my wallet was screaming at me to buy something that didn’t cost an arm and a fucking leg, and I’d been feeling weird lately. Like a sense of foreboding almost. All of that combined became too much to the point where I said screw it.

“Ok, I’m ready now. I’d like a Chicken Club combo please.” _I worked hard today at school, so I deserved this. Yeah, I deserved this!_

“Alrighty, and what would you like to drink sir?”

_Yeah, it's ok. I just won't get any shampoo at the grocery store this time. Wait. No shampoo? Oh my god, my hair!_

 

“I’d like a coke please.”

“Ok, that’ll be $8.39 at the window please.”

A conversation and money exchange later, I was heading home with _**Supernova**_ playing in the background, a bag full of delicious food and an emptier wallet. I really needed to head to the bank tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a 20 minute ride back to my house, I was opening the door to my apartment, sighing in relief. Home, finally home. Sliding off my coat and shoes, I walked over to the couch and flopped down.

“Ugh...so tired…” I groaned, sinking into the couch. After a full day at school I felt like doing nothing more than eating and sleeping. Soon I began to nod off to the night owls roaming around outside and with the sound of a car horn blaring, I slipped into dreamland.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Her back was to me as she moved around the kitchen preparing dinner. Her dark brown hair over her shoulder in a loose ponytail sawed as she moved. She hummed a soft catchy tune as she worked making something delicious for dinner. It smelled like roast beef…..steak maybe? I couldn't tell; the flowers in my hands overpowering the smells coming from the kitchen._

__

_“Mommy”, I called to her as I entered the cozy kitchen, walking up to her and tugging on her yellow colored sleeve. It took her a moment before she turned to me with a questioning look in her eyes._

__

_“What’s wrong, Eren? Did you need something?”, she asked._

__

_I shook my head, bangs sweeping from side to side. She remained silent, waiting for me to speak. I stared at the flowers for a moment before I thrust the forward. “I got these for you mom with the rest of my allowance.I hope you like them!” I grinned. It was a bouquet of white Calla Lilies with a pale pink ribbon wrapped around them._

__

_For a moment she looked shocked, eyes wide. Then her face broke into a wide grin, showing off her pearly whites. Eyes crinkled in the corners, she reached for the flowers. I released them and watched as she took a deep inhale of the Calla Lilies, smile still etched onto her face. The sun showed off her caramel colored skin, making her look even more radiant and youthful than before._

__

_Still smiling she reached down and tucked my bangs behind my ear. “Thank you Eren.”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke to the sound of the blaring of car horns. Only this time they were no longer soothing but irritating. Cursing the dumb-ass who decided it appropriate to honk their horns loudly late in the evening, I reached for my phone.

It had been awhile since I’ve dreamed of my mom ever since she died. I remember that day, when I used the rest of my allowance to give my mom a bouquet of Calla Lilies. They were her favorite flowers and every year on her birthday I’d buy her a few. That bouquet was because It was a belated birthday present since I was on a school trip during her birthday.

Out of all the memories of my mom, that was on of the best ones. It was the way she smiled. How the sun made her look younger. How she just looked totally happy in that moment. Before I knew it, I felt a couple of tears slip down my cheeks.

“Shit…” I mumbled as I rubbed away the stray tears. I rarely cried about mom anymore, but if I start going now, I wouldn't be able to stop. Hell, I probably wouldn't even wanna get up. I’d just curl on the couch and cry then not go to school tomorrow, exhausted from all the crying.

“That’s enough of that!” I said aloud, slapping my cheeks and mushing my face. The urge to cry died down after holding my mushed up face for a few seconds. Releasing my cheeks, I got off of the couch and looked at my phone. _7:30 huh? Heh, can’t believe I slept that long. ‘Bout time I ate dinner. Fucking starving._

I grabbed my Chick-fil-A diner and threw the contents in the microwave, scanning my phone for any missed texts while it heated up. When I found that there were none, I headed to my bedroom and grabbed my laptop. Hearing the beep from the microwave, I balanced my computer on one arm as I booted it up. Placing my laptop on the couch, I went back for my heated up dinner.

Not being able to hold out any longer I took a bite of the sandwich, moaning in satisfaction. “Damn that’s a good chicken sandwich”, I said as I danced back to the couch and plopped down.

It was silent in the apartment as I ate. The sounds from outside had quieted down for now, but I knew they’d pick up soon. My thoughts eventually wandered back to the unfinished painting from art class. Taking another few bites of my sandwich I hummed in thought. _What was missing? Why did it feel so….what’s the word I’m looking for? Empty? Lifeless? No, that couldn't be it. Then what was it? Could it be-_

My thought process was cut short when the annoying incoming call sound on Skype blared from my computer. Ugh, I really don’t feel like talking to anybody. If it’s horseface, I’m gonna bomb his house.

Sighing, I reluctantly placed my half eaten food aside and pulled my computer into my lap, seeing who was calling me. Turns out it was Mikasa, my pen pal from third grade. Smiling, I answered the call.

“Eren?” Mikasa’s voice came through, her face showing up on the grainy camera screen. Her hair was in it’s usual fashion, hanging just below her chin. Her stormy grey eyes looking at me, showing me how happy she was to see me again, even if her face didn't show it.

“Hey Mika. What’s up?”, I replied grinning like the total dork I was.

“Nothing much. Just thought I’d call to make sure you weren't kidnapped or something since you didn't call me at six like you promised me.”, she said sounding like a mother scolding her child.

Wait. What? Call her at six like I promi- Ah fuck, damnit! I totally forgot about that, and to top it off, I fell asleep!

“You forgot didn't you? Probably fell asleep, am I right?” All I did was sigh heavily, not meeting her gaze. I felt horrible for not following through on my promise to her. I still had to apologize though.

“Eren, it’s-” Mikasa started, but I cut her off. She lets me off too easy when it comes to stuff like this and I don’t like it.

“No, it’s not fine, Mika.” I replied, looking up at her and holding her gaze. “I should have remembered and kept my promise to you, but I didn't. I’m sorry.” Mikasa stayed quiet for a moment, silence hanging over both of us. It wasn't uncomfortable per say, but it wasn't comfortable either. It was just silent.

Since we weren't talking, I placed the computer on the coffee table and started back on my dinner. Mikasa just stared at me as I ate, and after awhile it started to creep me out.

“Um, Mika?” She hummed showing that she was listening. “Could you stop staring at me like that? I feel like you wanna jump through the screen and eat me…” I said nervously.

Mikasa continued her staring until she said, “If I jump through this screen, it’s not to eat you but your sandwich, dumbass. It looks really good.”

“Oh hell no! This sandwich is mine!” I hissed, shielding it from her view. “I almost paid ten bucks for my dinner and I’m not letting you have it. Go eat some ramen or something.” I said sticking my tongue out. I heard her giggle.

“Uh, rude. Not all Japanese people eat ramen, you racist dork. I myself prefer Shabu Shabu.”

“Shabu Shabu? The fuck is that?”

Mikasa rubbed at her temples while sighing, “You Americans. All you know is McDonalds and Burger King.” I gasped.

Placing the hand that wasn’t protecting my dinner over my chest in mock offence, I began “Uh, first of all, fuck you.” I think I heard her mumble a ‘you wish’ under her breath. “Second, I’m German and proud of it! Third, America is awesome. Lastly, you guys have McDonalds and Burger King, so you have no room to talk, Shabu Shabu girl!” I punctuated my sentence by sticking out my tongue once again. I got the middle finger in return.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyway, how was your day?”

Turning to fully face her again, I smiled at how the weird air over the room had finally been lifted, replaced by a more comfortable one. “Hmmm, my days been pretty good. Tiring as hell, but when have they not been? College is the worst.”, I answered chuckling.

We talked about the application for the cafe, Mikasa’s day and other random things we thought of after that. Apparently she had to beat up a couple of dudes for hitting on her girlfriend Annie. Wait. Annie? It couldn't possibly be _Annie_. No, it had to be another Annie. Just to be sure though...

Interrupting Mikasa I asked, “Hey Mika, could you show me a picture of your girlfriend?” Mikasa shot me a glare that could kill.

“Are you trying to steal my girlfriend, Jaeger? ‘Cause if you are, I will fly all the way to America to personally kick your German ass.” She growled.

Ohhhhhh shit! Whenever Mikasa said my last name like that it meant one of two things. She was going to kick my ass because I did something stupid, or she was gonna ask me to help her do something illegal like bury a body or something. Those are not memories that I would like to remember again, so I hoped that it was the first one.

Yes people, it was that fucking bad. You just don’t wanna know.

Putting my hands up defensively I replied, “Calm down, Mika. I just wanna confirm something, that’s all! Don’t get your panties in a twist!” She continued to glare at me, searching my eyes to make sure I wasn't lying. When she saw none, she lifted a photo of her and Annie sitting on what looked like a park bench in an amusement park somewhere.

Mikasa had on a spring turquoise jumper with brown sandals, hair in a loose ponytail. She was actually smiling, although small, holding her fingers in a peace sign. In the background there was a Ferris wheel, and a beautiful sunset that I would love to paint, but I was on a mission right now.

Next to her was a blonde with a band swept to the side, hair done up in a bun. She was wearing a pair of acid wash jeans, a black t-shirt with some kind of logo on it, and a few braided bracelets. When I saw the girls face though, my suspicions had been confirmed.

“No fucking way….” I mumbled aloud. From the piercing icy blue eyes, to the blank look on her face, it was none other than Annie fucking Leonhart.

The girl who used to make fun of me when I was three.

The girl who took my favorite stuffed animal and never gave it back.

The girl who’d fling dog shit on anybody who tried to mess with me.

The girl who, even at the young age of four, beat a six year old up so bad he cried and apologized for taking my Halloween candy.

Annie Leonhart, who was not only my bodyguard (yes she was that badass at four years old that she could be my bodyguard), my first and only friend while I still lived in Germany, and was pretty much like a sister to me.

Staring at that picture longer, I thought about how much she’d grown up. Of course she still had that same blank looking face and bun with a side bang, but that was just Annie. I don’t really think I could imagine her with her hair down anyway.

I remember my mom showing a video of us when we were babies one day. Our moms sat us down together on the carpet in the living room or our old house, and watched us play together. Well...it was more like me trying to play with Annie and Annie ignoring me. When I made a grab for the toy she was playing with at then, she crawled on top of me and started pulling on my hair, HARD. I was wailing by the time our parents separated us, and it took awhile to calm me down.

After a few minutes, they sat us back down again. I started to whine for my mom to come get me, but of course, not understanding my baby speech, kept cooing and thought I was being adorable. I looked horrified in the video when Annie started crawling over towards me again. I wailed louder, hoping my mom would notice my discomfort and come take me away from the demon spawn.

Of course that didn't happen.

Instead of getting my hair tugged for a second time, Annie took out her binkie and stuffed it in my mouth. Then she laid next to me and held my hand. The baby me in the video eventually fell asleep holding Annies hand, and we were inseparable ever since.

Well, except for the part of me suddenly having to move to America. Let’s just say, family issues are hell and leave it at that. Moving on, I never really got a chance to tell Annie bye, and by the time I realized I didn't know how to contact her we were already in America. I really did miss Annie, since she was my first friend, but then horseface came along and made everything better, so I guess it’s not so bad.

“EREN!!!!”, a voice yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts. Looking blankly at my computer screen I saw Mikasa staring at me with a worried expression. She looked kinda pissed too, but her worry was at the forefront.

“......Eh?” Wow. And I've been through how many years of school? Way to make you mom proud Jaeger.

Sighing, Mikasa spoke, “I've been calling you for the last few minutes! What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

I slapped my cheeks to get my mind together. “Uh, yeah I’m good. It’s your girlfriend…” I trailed off. Mikasa stared at me in confusion, tilting her head to the side a bit. “I know your girlfriend.” I continued, “We were friends when I used to live in Germany.” Mikasa stared at me, wide-eyed.

Did I mention after all these years of pen paling with her I forgot to mention I was originally from Germany? Aha, no way. She must have just forgotten, right?

“Eren….You’re from Germany?”

Fuck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After explaining how I was from Germany and how I knew Annie, it started to get pretty late.

 

“Mika, it’s almost 11, I reeeeeally need to go to sleep.” I said yawning. Mikasa reluctantly nodded.

“Got it. I guess I have to let you go sooner or later.”

“You sound like a mother sending her firstborn off to college” I said laughing.

“Shut up Eren.” She chuckled. “Call me tomorrow?”

“You got it Shabu Shabu~”

“UGH! Stop it with the Shabu Shabu thing, Eren! Go to sleep already.” I smiled and started to fix the couch up before going to end the call. Mikasa stopped me. “Wait.” I took my mouse off of the end call button and stared at her. She seemed deep in thought. Finally she spoke, “Never mind. Oh and Eren?” I hummed in acknowledgment. “Fill out the application. I know you’ll get the job.” With a smile and a ‘Oyasumi’, she ended the call.

I stood there for a moment, looking at me and Jean wearing condom hats on my desktop. God, we are so dumb. Laughing to myself about the memory of that day, I put away my dishes from the long gone, expensive as hell combo meal, grabbed my computer and backpack, and headed for the bedroom.

Dropping off my laptop and backpack on my desk area, I went about my nightly routine. Putting on my I-pod and letting the relaxing sound of the ocean fill the room, I climbed into bed. Sinking into the soft and plush mattress, my eyes slowly sliding closed. The last thing on my mind was whether I would listen to my friends advice and actually fill out the damn job application.

_**The Next Day After School~** _

I can’t do it.

I was currently standing outside of Cafe Zoe, staring at the many customers and staff that were running around filling orders. It’s to be expected that the place would be so busy because it was lunch period but Damn. Pretty much all the tables were filled, the counter was filled with people standing because they couldn't sit, and there were more people on their way from the chatter I heard in the college hallways. The poor staff were running around, but instead of acting like chickens with their heads cut off, they were pretty calm. The brown haired lady that was there yesterday was replaced by a short, strawberry blonde manning the counter. And let me tell you she was working it. Like, she had peoples orders written and passed out in a minute.

Yeah….

Time to turn around now. I can tell Jean it didn't work out, or that a dog ate my application on the way here. Yeah, that should work. Just as I was going to turn around Jean and Mikasa’s words rang in my ears.

_“If you don’t like it you can just quit!”_

__

_“Fill out the application. I know you’ll get the job.”_

I sighed. They were right. If I didn't like the job I could quit, and Mikasa usually had a good sense of judgement. If she thinks I’ll get the job, then she’s probably right. There’s no harm in going inside and applying, right?

Fuck it.

Sighing heavily I mumbled, “Let’s get this shit over with,” before pushing open the glass door to the cafe.

I didn't look around, just made a beeline for the counter. Thank god there was no line right now or I would have turned around and walked out. When I got up to the counter, the strawberry blonde turned to me and smiled. “Welcome to Cafe Zoe! How can I help you?” She greeted in soft voice. It was almost mother like, very soothing.

I mumbled a small,‘Hi’, while looking at the see through counter. Inside was an assortment of pastries. Cheese danishes, croissants, cream puffs, muffins of all kinds, bear claws, doughnuts, holy shit, is that a cannoli? Oh my god! I love cannolis so freakin’ much. Like, ugh, you just don’t even know man. The cream filling, whipped to perfection and so fluffy in all it’s sugary glory. That delicious pastry shell holding it all in. Top it off with some powdered sugar and you’ll be in heaven. Hmm, maybe I should get one, or two. Three sounds even better….

_Wait no! Damnit Eren, focus!_ Hoping I wasn't staring too long, I looked back at the blonde again, my eyes flicking to her name tag. Petra. “Um, Petra, I noticed you were looking for a new hire, and my friend got me an application, so, I thought I’d apply. Do I give this form to you?” I held my breath, waiting for her to respond.

“Oh! Sure, you can give this to me and I’ll hand if of to one of the owners when they comes back.”

I let out a sigh of relief. _Yes! I didn't screw this up!_ I handed off the application, said my farewell, mostly to the cannolis, and zoomed out of the cafe. What I was met with surprised me.

 

“Looks like someone finally took my advice.”

 

It was Jean, sitting on the bench that was across from the cafe. He was grinning like a total dork. I frowned at him. Ugh, this asshole.

“Hey. Class let out early?” I asked, avoiding what he said earlier completely. He snickered and stood up and walked towards me.

“Don’t try to avoid the subject Jaeger. I saw you hand over the application. I’m proud of you.”

“Eww, you’re acting all nice and shit. What happened to the asshole I knew? The one who’d say ‘I told you so!’ and ‘it’s about damn time!’”

“Ah, shut up Eren! I’m always nice! Seeeeeeee?” he drawled, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I rolled my eyes so far I was afraid they wouldn't come back down.

“Yeah, whatever horsefa- Oh my god! Are you trying to hug me?!” I screeched in horror. While I was talking, Jean had managed to swing in front of me and hug me. He was grinning like Cheshire cat while squeezing the life outta me. I struggled trying to wiggle myself out of his surprisingly strong hold, but it was no use. Once this big lug nut latched onto you, it was over.

Sighing in defeat, I hugged him back tight because I loved this big idiot, and he finally let me go. “That’s the spirit, Jaeger! Now, what I wanted to actually ask you is do you want to go to Ihop for lunch?”

“Are you paying?” I asked.

“Well yeah.”

“Hell yeah! I’m in.” I replied grinning at the mention of free food.

Jean smiled back.“Besides, once you score this job you’ll be buying me food as compensation for all the times I've been buyin’ you lunch.”

“Noooooooo.” I groaned out, as we began walking to Ihop for some well earned pancakes.

 

**Third Person POV**

Little did the two dork heads know, they were being watched.

Just as Eren had left the cafe, Hanji appeared from the back with more pastries to replace the ones that were bought. She loaded the cannolis and cream puffs into their rightful places until she was tapped on the shoulder. Straightening back up, she looked and saw Petra smiling at her. Hanji also noticed that she was holding a piece of paper in her hand.

“Petra, what’s that?” Hanji asked, setting down the empty tray on top of the counter. Petra’s smile grew wider as she handed the paper to Hanji.

“Someone came in and applied for the job today~” Hanji’s eyes grew wide.

“SERIOUSLY?! WHO ARE THEY? WHERE DID THEY GO?!!” She screeched, grabbing Petra by the shoulders. They had been waiting for someone to take the job so they could finally have a full staff, and even though they were a very popular cafe, few people wanted to work there. The ones who did either weren't clean enough (says a certain shorty), their backgrounds were too shady, or they just didn't seem like they’d fit in very well.

Petra laughed nervously, “Uh, Hanji, I think you need to calm down just a bit ok? You’re disrupting the customers.” She was right. A few people were staring at them after Hanji’s loud screech. Some ever seemed a little scared.

Nodding, Hanji reigned in her excitement and let go of Petra. She turned her attention back to the application. _Eren Jaeger: Age 21, goes to Trost University, blah blah blah._ Hmmmm.

“Hey hey Petra, did you see what he looked like? Was he cute?” Hanji asked with excitement  in her voice. Petra nodded.

“Yeah, he left right before you came back out. He might still be around here…” Petra trailed off, scanning the outside area until she landed on a familiar figure. “Aha! There he is.” She said pointing at Eren, who was currently struggling to get out of Jean’s octopus hold.

Hanji looked at him, scanning from head to toe, the she smirked. “Ahh~ So that’s him huh? Hehehe~” Petra left Hanji to her staring, going to take care of the wave of customers that just came through the door. Once Eren and Jean were out of eyesight, Hanji took the once full pastry tray and headed to the back to get more.

“Hmmmm~ Things are going to get interesting~”

 

 

(Ok. Because I apparently don't have a grasp of technology anymore, i decide to say screw it and put the picture of Eren in the actual chapter. So here ya flippin' go. Good grief! Technology is so frustrating sometimes -_- 

 

)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I used this geek boy creator on Rinmaru Games (which is a super awesome gaming site) to make Eren. Once you see the picture it will confirm that yes, Eren has his titan hair in this fic. I hope you guys don't think it looks crappy, but I really didn't feel like drawing cause I'm lazy :P
> 
> Also here are the songs that Eren was listening to earlier in the chapter,
> 
> Rain Song-Bi Rain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xil7Bu-69f4
> 
> Supernova-SNSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB4oqe2o3lE
> 
> Now I also have a couple of question for you guys. Do you prefer longer chapters or shorter chapters because I kinda feel bad for making you guys wait so long, so If you want shorter chapters for quicker updates, I can do that. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a new name for this chapter, please leave them in the comments. I'm not really liking the name of this chapter, but I don't want to just call it chapter 3 so, yeah :3
> 
> Hmm, I think that's about it for now. Oh wait! I'm going to be using this design thingy to show you guys what the cafe looks like later on. Now I'm done. Cya! XD


	4. Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. ^^ This is misty with a new installment of Cafe Zoe!  
> Before that, however, how is everyone's Friday the 13th going? >:3
> 
> Hello, hello, hello, ChungHee here~ Just wanted to let you guys know that chapter 5 might take a sec because I have OGT's starting Monday-Friday. So by the time the week is done, I might be dead and not able to write. I'll try though! /-3-/

**Café Zoe**

**Chapter 4: Interview**

* * *

 

            I got a call from Café Zoe two hours after I sent in my application. It was a shock to me, but the woman on the other line, the manager, Hanji Zoe, insisted I come in as soon as possible. For me, I assumed that my soonest time, which was later in the week after classes and school work were done, would be too late for her, and that would instantly end the possibility of working there.

Oh no. Not for her. She was more than delighted, and the interview was set for Friday after my last class, which ended at five. Friday’s were the slower days, where I only had two classes, but my first class was my art class, and I wanted to take my time after it was over to work on my painting, if I even could.

For the next five days, my time was spent in class, talking with friends, and working on the painting. When I wasn’t in class, I was most likely with Jean or in the art building with Armin, because he liked to stay late too. The only time he didn’t stay late was when he had a project to work on and needed peace and quiet, and where would he go for that? His second favorite place (First, actually).

The library.

I’d stay longer after he left though, depending on my schedule. Sometimes I was rushing out of the room trying to get to my next class that was halfway across campus, and others I was taking my sweet time. My teacher didn’t mind me staying either. Sometimes he’d go out for coffee and let me stay in the classroom, and when that happened, I’d put some music on and fully unwind.

There was no unwinding today though.

When Friday came by, nervousness and anxiety didn’t really hit me until I was packing up my stuff from class. I had mentioned it all to Armin, who wished me luck and crossed his fingers for me. While that never helped anyone, his comforting words did release some of the anxiety. It was nice to see that even he had my back.

After that, it was just a short walk to Café Zoe. I found myself in front of the multistory building, though only the bottom floor was the shop. My head was tilted back far enough for me to look at the paneling for the roof, and then at the sign that read “Café Zoe” as clear as day. In front of the building was a sandwich board, written out with today’s specials on it. Around those words were a bunch of swivels and hearts, neatly colored in red and blue chalk.

“Free slice of Lemon Pound Cake with donations to the tip jar!”

Well wasn’t that clever?

I sighed. I still had time to turn around, didn’t I? No one had seen me, so I could easily just turn around and walk away. No one would notice or care. I could just tell the manager I was in an accident? No, that was an overused excuse.

Hadn’t I told Jean I wouldn’t do that though? Hadn’t I said I’d at least try it? It was just a job, so I could quit if I truly hated it here. I said I’d try… Why had I said that again?

I sighed once more. I should definitely try _at least_. It was in no way glamourous, nowhere near what I wanted to do in life, and it was in an area where people in college could see me, utterly ruining any last shred of good reputation I had, but it was a job.

With that decision in my mind, I decided to just suck it up. The interview couldn’t take any longer than half an hour either. It was just thirty minutes. I could handle thirty minutes if I rambled enough. All I had to do was go inside, introduce myself, and get it over it-

“What are you waiting around for?” The door to the café opened so fast I nearly got hit with it. I was barely able to avoid it before an overzealous hand grabbed mine and yanked me into the building. “You’ve been standing around for five minutes! _Five!_ ”

“E-Excuse me?” I asked the woman holding onto me. She let me go and turned around, revealing the face of the woman who was undoubtedly the woman I talked to over the phone. Strange; she was a lot louder in person.

“Oh it’s so good to finally meet you!” She chirped, her eyes looking over me like I was the one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

“Mrs. Hanji?” I asked, my arms moving to cover my chest like a protective barrier. Like this was going to help me any…

“Oh honey no, don’t call me that. It makes me feel old and like my mother.” The woman, who I now knew fully as Hanji Zoe, the manager and owner, said and fixed her glasses. “Besides, I’m not married. Not yet anyway.”

“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“No harm done. Just call me Hanji.” She said and smiled a big grin. “You must be Eren Jaeger, my newest employee!”

“W-Wait, aren’t I just here for an interview?” I asked, suddenly very confused and very tired.

“Oh, I was hoping you’d forget about that.” She muttered to herself. I was prepared to question that, but I felt a tap against my shoulder. I turned and looked back, finding a petite woman standing behind me. She had short, auburn and shoulder length hair, big, brown eyes and a very nice smile, which did seem a little tired in a way. She had a tray in her hands, and I could only assume she was another employee here by that and the apron around her waist.

“Sorry, I meant to hold her back.” She apologized with a sympathetic expression. “I did give her a Xanax earlier.”

“Obviously it hasn’t kicked in yet.” I scoffed.

“This is it kicked in.” She said with a pointed stare over to Hanji, who didn’t seem too interested in the conversation. With that, the woman walked away, heading over to a table where a man sat to deliver his coffee.

Dead God, what have I gotten myself into?

“Alright, why don’t you come over here and we can chat?” Hanji asked, but as she forcibly tugged me over to a secluded table in the corner away from customers, I felt like it was more of a demand.

“S-Sure…?” I said skeptically and sat down in one of the chairs. Hanji sat down across from me, her legs crossing under the table, her elbows resting against the wood, her chin being supported by her hands, and another wide grin on her face. I felt like she wasn’t looking at me, but _through_ me. It sounded weird, but that was the only way I could describe the look on her face.

“So, tell me about yourself, Eren.” She insisted.

“Uhm… Well, what do you want to know?”

“What’s your favorite color?” She bluntly asked.

“Huh…?”

“Are you into sports?”

“W-Wait, what?”

“What kind of music do you like?”

“I-I don’t-”

“What classes are you majoring in? What’s life like on campus? Do you ever travel?”

“Hold on!” I interrupted her at the only moment she paused to breathe.

“Yes…?”

“I-I’m sorry, Hanji, but I don’t see how any of this has anything to do with my interview.” I told her.

“It has nothing to do with the interview. I want you to tell me about yourself.”

I could only stare.

Seriously, what had I gotten myself into?

“Well, uhm…” Why was I even bothering? “I like autumn colors really, so any of those… I’m not into sports, and the only music I like is piano pieces really. I’m majoring in art. Campus life is fine. No, but I’d like to.”

That was all of the answers she wanted, right? I wasn’t missing any question, was I? It was so hard to tell. She spoke so fast with such an upbeat attitude it was hard to keep up.

“Ohh,” She mused, her grin turning into a smile. “You’ve got a good memory. I knew I liked you.” She said and patted my shoulder.

“Liked me…?”

“Yes. I’ve seen you walk in front of this place before. I always thought you had an interesting look about you.” She said while leaning back in her chair. “In fact, you remind me of someone, but I can’t put my finger on it…”

“Was it someone famous?” I questioned, not really entertaining the idea of it.

“No, no. That’s not it. Ugh, Petra!” She called over to the woman who spoke to me earlier. The woman, now that I knew as Petra, was standing behind the counter, writing something down on a piece of paper. Besides that, though, she wasn’t very busy.

“Yeah…?” She asked and looked up from her writing.

“Who does he look like to you?” Hanji asked her while pointing to me. Petra looked at me for a moment, her eyes squinting to get a better look, but it didn’t seem to cross her mind as to her I resembled.

“I’m not sure.” She said. Hanji pouted and turned back to me. “Well, besides that, when are you free to start working?” She asked me, her pout quickly dissolving into a wide grin again.

“W-Wait, that’s it?”

“What’s it?”

“You don’t want to know if I worked anywhere before this? You don’t want to know about my work ethic or if I’m some teen who likes to drink and party that could potentially ruin your business?” I questioned, completely put off by her way of interviewing.

I had been to one or two interviews in my time, and none had ever come close to being like this. Granted, they were fast food shops that I was interviewing for, but even in movies and on TV shows that weren’t for kids, this _was not_ how an interview went. Interviews required some questions about scheduling, flexibility, what people are and are not capable of doing. They ask about any chances of traveling, if being transferred to another location, was that a problem, and then for contact information for any emergencies that could arise at home. Hell, when you interview for a job at fast food, you’re even telling them your age, so at least they can determine if you can work behind a grill or not.

_This_ was not _that_. She wasn’t asking me anything I thought she would ask me about, instead wanting to get to know me on a personal level, which just didn’t make sense. Most relationships were professional, and if people became friends, great, but learning on a personal level came along the while with a job. You learned your boss and your boss learned from you along the way, but this wasn’t that at all.

Was I missing something here? Was there some nick about job interviews that I just wasn’t getting, or was it just her? Did Hanji have a different view point when it came to this than others did? I couldn’t possibly know. I didn’t know how long she had owned this café, if and when it had been at a different location at one time or another. I didn’t know her age, didn’t know how long she had been doing this, so I couldn’t possibly know more or less than she did.

I was an artist, not a barista.

“That’s stuff you learn along the way, Eren. Besides, you don’t strike me as you being the type of teen to go out and party. You strike me as someone more laid back, more relaxed. You may like a small drink once and a while and to hang out with friends, but I don’t see you in a hospital and getting your stomach pumped.” Maybe she really did know me better than I thought. “And if you really were that type of person, well then I wouldn’t be asking you to work here.”

“So you’re just taking a shot and hoping for the best with me?” I asked.

“Eh, sorta. I’m good at reading people, Eren, and I read a lot of things from you.” Because that made sense to me. “So when can you start?”

Once again she jumped right to the point.

“Honestly, Miss Hanji, I don’t think I really want to take this job.” I told her while looking away. I didn’t feel comfortable resorting to this, but she seemed like the type of person who needed to be told about this directly, not trying to sprinkle hints with.

“Why is that…?” She asked, genuinely curious.

“… I don’t know.” I admitted, feeling guilty as all hell that I didn’t have a better excuse. “It’s just not what I was hoping for in a job?”

“And what were you hoping for?” She asked. “Like, doing hair for famous people or something?”

“No, no, nothing like that, but… Well, definitely not this.”

“Eren, we all can’t get by in life doing everything we want to do.” She explained while leaning back. “We may do a lot of it, and that just makes things fun and dandy, but let’s be honest here, if we did everything we wanted, more people would be dead in a world that had lost all sense of sanity.”

Wasn’t that the truth?

“I guess…”

“Everyone has to do something or another that they don’t like at least once in their life, whether it’s eating vegetables they don’t like or working in a place that doesn’t involve what you like to do.” Hanji leaned forward again, her chin falling to rest on her hands that supported her as she stared at me with her brown eyes. “This isn’t a permanent job, Eren. While I find you absolutely adorable and want to keep you forever, I know I can’t. One sad thing I have to do in life. I won’t force you to stay, let alone force you to take the job, but it’s not the worse job to have, not to mention we have something most places that hire don’t have.”

“And what’s that?” I was genuinely curious.

“A good sense of family within our environment.” She said and smiled, and that was definitely not an answer I was expecting. “And, you know, free cake.”

I was expecting that one more though.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. Her words were swimming through my head and pouncing at every corner within my skull. They sunk deep within me, words like “family” poking at crevices they shouldn’t have been doing. That was a little too deep for me, because “family” just wasn’t a vocabulary word I knew anymore. It was true though that most places didn’t care for those types of things. It was just work, earn money, and go home.

Would working here be bearable if that were the difference? Hanji seemed nice enough, albeit crazy, and Petra, though I hadn’t talked to her much, seemed like an angle. It was a nice restaurant, in no way run down, and while I knew it could probably get busy, I could also imagine it being calm.

Hanji was right. It wasn’t the worst of jobs to have. It wasn’t the best, but it definitely wasn’t the worst. Maybe I was just being too picky. Maybe I was looking at it from all of the wrong directions. Besides, I needed a job, and here Hanji was ready to say come in to work… Or was she demanding it? I felt like I didn’t have a choice, even if I said no, but I didn’t feel pressured about it.

She was giving me the option. If I didn’t want it, all I had to say was no and let that be the end of it, but then again, I had said I would at least try. Jean and Hanji both stated that it wasn’t permanent, that I could leave whenever I wanted, but I should really try. From this point, I wasn’t making any money with my art, not until my painting was complete and sold anyway. However, if I was lucky, I could get maybe five hundred for it. That’s a month’s rent, but what about food? What about bills? I had to focus on all of that too.

I sighed.

“You think very hard about things, Eren,” Hanji said. “But I can tell that you look at things from every angle, which is good. Most people these days don’t bother to look at both sides of the playing field.”

“My mom taught me to do that…” I muttered, but then a thought crossed my mind.

Why had my mom suddenly come up in this conversation? I remember nothing of her ever teaching me it, though I’m sure she constantly stated something or another. Maybe that had just engrained the idea into my head somehow.

… My mom would want me to work somewhere I would be happy, wouldn’t she?

“… I-Is there any way I could just… _‘Try’_ this job out for a while?” I asked, feeling skeptical and terrible for even bringing up the idea of it. Any regular employer would say go home, not a chance, but this was Hanji or course. She was no regular employer.

“Of course, honey. I told you that this isn’t a permanent job, and if you truly hate it, then you can always quit.” She assured and patted my hand, but then pinched at my cheek playfully. “But I was telling the truth about you being adorable and wanting to keep you.”

“That’s flattering,” What the hell was I even supposed to say to that? That was the only thing that could come to my mind.

“Alas, I have two big German Shepard’s at home, and my fiancé would kill me if I tried bringing home any more pets.” She said and shrugged her shoulders.

“Congratulations on your marriage,” I said, feeling as if tension had been lifted from the area around me.

“Thank you, Eren. You’re more than welcome to come to our wedding if you’d like.”

“I wouldn’t want to be a party crasher.” I chuckled nervously and rubbed at the back of my neck.

“You wouldn’t be one at all! My dogs are coming, and I’m sure they would cause more trouble than you.”

“You… You’re bringing your dogs to your wedding?”

“Of course! Sawney and Bean are my baby boys! They have to be there! Besides, Bean in the ring bearer. He has to walk down the aisle for me!”

“O-Oh…” Yeah, I had no idea what to say to that. “What does your fiancé think of that?”

“Well he’s not very keen on it, mainly because Sawney likes to hump his leg, but he wants me happy.”

I couldn’t even sound out something as a response.

“And the sad part is, is that is all completely true.” I heard Petra say behind me. At some point she had come to collect dishes at a table behind us, though I hadn’t heard her walk up until she spoke.

“I think I have a video of that somewhere in here.” When I turned back around, Hanji was going through her phone, looking for said video to prove to me that it was true.

“N-No, I believe you. You don’t have to show-”

“Oh! Here’s the morning I woke up and Bean was laying on Moblit’s face. I thought Moblit was dead too, but he was alive for the most part.” Hanji turned her phone towards me to show me the picture she had found, and sure enough, there was a giant (And when I say giant, I mean _giant_ ) German Shepard laying on her, who I could only assume was her fiancé’s face.

“That’s a big dog.”

“My hundred pound ball of love.”

“That’s a heavy dog too.” I stated bewilderedly. Weren’t they supposed to be only sixty some pounds?

“Oh! Here is Sawney and Bean trying to eat out of the same bowl.” Once again, she showed me another picture, but this one was far cuter, and I could have sword Sawney was bigger than Bean.

“Eren, would you like a cup of coffee?” Petra asked from behind me.

“N-No, I’m okay. Thank you though, Petra, was it?” I asked to be sure.

“That’s right, and are you sure? You may not be able to get up for a while.”

“Why…?”

“Oh! Here’s us at Christmas, and Bean had his head stuck in one of his presents and a bow got stuck on his head! Then there’s us on a Saturday morning, and Moblit made me breakfast in bed, but Sawney jumped on the bed and stole the bacon off of my plate!”

Oh. That’s why.


	5. Not Really a Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a fanart that I made of Levi and Eren kissing. It's my first one and I hope you guys like it!

** **


	6. Freedom, Racing, and Missiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ChungHee here again! Sorry for being so late with this chapter, but I had OGT's and stuff so...^^'
> 
> Anyway, I'm going to be posting two chapters instead of just one. The original chapter 5 was going to be super long, and it was 4 in the morning when I was writing, so my brain kinda stopped XD. Therefore, I've split the original length of the chapter in half, and will post chapter 6 soon. Hopefully. 
> 
> (By the way, this chapter has no edits yet cause misty has been busy, so If you see anything put it in the comments)
> 
> Ok, enjoy!! :D

 

“Bye Eren! See you on Monday!!” Hanji yelled waving like a mad woman. I returned the wave, and watched her close the door to the cafe.

_Oh. My. Gosh._

When I came in earlier today, I just expected talking to the owner, and leaving after the interview. Oh yeah we talked. We talked so much that it was already six in the evening, and the sky was getting darker by the minute. Holy shit.

_What is the sky? Should it be this dark? What is this smell? Could it be? No. Wait, it is! Fucking fresh air. HALLELUJAH!!_

We didn’t even talk about the job much. What took up most of the time however, was looking at pictures of Hanjis dogs and talking about how adorable the giant dogs looked. My gosh that woman has so much energy. If that’s how she is, then I don’t even want to think about how her fiance is. Oh dear lord. What if it’s like having two Hanjis? I shiver at the thought.

Ah forget it. All I wanna do is go home, eat, shower and sleep. So fucking tired…

I started walking to my car, when I remembered that i had to cut my phone back on. I had it off so the interview wouldn’t be interrupted, but now I’m starting to think it wasn’t such a good idea.

By the time I was in my car with the seatbelt on, my phone was on, and I had notifications. 27 texts, 5 missed calls, and one snapchat. _And they were all from Jean._

_How many texts can one person send? And a snapchat too? This guy seriously needs to chill._

__

I sighed heavily “Too many damn texts to check. Guess I’ll just call the idiot.”

Dialing Jeans number, I held the phone to my ear and got a response after the second ring.

“Eren! Why the hell didn’t you answer my texts or my calls?!” Jean screamed so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear so I wouldn’t go deaf. “Do you know how worried I was you bastard! I thought you were kidnapped, or killed-”

“Woah, woah, WOAH!! Calm down Jean! I’m fine!” _Wow. what’s got him all riled up?_ The line went silent, but I could still hear him breathing so I knew he was still there. “Jean? You okay?” I heard a sigh come from his end.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“What got your panties in a bunch? I just cut my phone off so it wouldn’t ring during the interview.”  Jean was silent for a bit. “Honestly, what’s gotten into you?” Still no response. _This is starting to get on my nerves…_ “Spit it out Jean!” I said into the phone with clenched teeth.

Finally, he spoke. It was no higher than a whisper and I almost missed it, but luckily I didn’t: “I thought they had gotten you again”

Oh... _Oh._

“Jean…”

“I know, I know. It’s just that I was worried. The same thing happened last time and I thought that...I didn’t know what to think Eren. I’m sorry.”

I could hear how his voice was so close to breaking, and it killed me inside. I didn’t mean to remind him of  a memory we’d rather forget. Like an idiot, I forgot the promise we made to always keep our phones on incase we needed each other and now here we are, Jean sounding like he’s about to have a breakdown over the phone. _Shit!_

“Don’t apologize. It was my fault. Just take a few deep breaths and calm down, ok?” Jean weakly hummed back in response. We sat there, just listening to each other breath for about 10 minutes, until I broke the silence. “Better?”

“Yeah” I could hear the smile in his voice, “I’m just glad you’re ok.”

I smiled too, “Good, cause now I can tell you that come Monday, I’ll be dishing out doughnuts and coffee to sleep deprived college kids~” I heard a gasp over the phone.

“So you got it?!” _Oh my gosh he sounds so excited right now._

“Hell yeah. Like I said, I start on Monday, and I was wondering if a certain someone would want to celebrate?”

“Yes! I know exactly where we’re gonna go too-”

“No” I said, cutting him off. “We are not going drinking tonight. You’re a pain in the ass to deal with when you’re drunk. I’m coming to pick your fat ass up, and bring you to my house.”

“Awwww, why?! I wanna drink some booooze~” Jean whined. More like neighed, but whatever.

 

“Quit you’re neighing and get ready, cause when I get there you better be ready to go.”

“Ereeeeeeeeeen!”

“I swear to god, if you’re not ready by the time I get there, I will kick you ass so hard you’ll have to neigh before you fart. Now MARCH!”

“So mean. Why ya gotta be like that bro?” _This bastard…_

“Jean…” I said, quickly losing my patience.

“Alright alright, I’m putting on my underwear now.”

Oh god no. “I didn’t need to know that you didn’t have on underwear while we were having this conversation! Ugh, I’m hanging up.” Ohhh~ I know what will get him moving. “By the way, there will be pizza and Sega and Sonic All Stars Racing~” I sang into the phone.

There was a pause, then the sound of Jean running all over the place. I heard a big boom then a crash. “Shit! Oh fuck, that was Marco’s favorite vase. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Jean screeched. I couldn’t hear anymore of what he said, because I was keeled over laughing. Tears pricked at my eyes and I lost my breath. _Oh my holy, my best friend is so fucking stupid._ I can’t even right now.

By the time I had gotten of my laughing fit, I realized that my phone screen was black. Jean must have hung up. Knowing the idiot, he did it on accident. Chuckling to myself at the thought of his punishment when Marco found out about his vase, I cut on my car and pulled out of the parking lot.

_Marcos gonna kill him._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pulling up to Marco and Jean’s apartment complex, I saw Jean leaning on the side of the building, with his head down. I parked on the side of the road, and beeped a couple of times. _That should get his attention._

Jean looked up, smiled, and jogged over to the car and got in. He pulled on his seatbelt, rolled down the window, and turned to me looking smug. “Guess what Jaeger. I was waiting for you for 15 minutes” he said smirking.

“Hoo-fuckin-ray.” I said turning on the car and driving off. “Besides, the only reason you were out there early was probably because you wanted to be out of the apartment by the time Marco go home, and saw your little accident.” _Take that horse face!_

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jean’s face. He was staring at me looking shocked and insulted. _Heh, probably didn’t know I heard him on the phone._

“You heard that?!”

_Idiot._

“Yes I heard you breaking your _boyfriends_ special vase that he got from his _mother_ on his 19th birthday.” I said looking at him as we stopped at a red light. Jean was hunched over, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He looked kinda pale too.

“Marco is going to kill me.” he mumbled.

_Well shit. I thought he was just joking but I might not have a best friend the next morning._

“It’ll be ok. You can stay at my place for the night if you want” I said, facing the road once more. I heard a relieved sigh come from the passengers side of the car. Jean cut on the radio and flicked through the channels until we heard a familiar tune.

“...Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“Yup”

It was _‘Super Bass’_ by _Nicki Minaj_.

We may or have may not squealed like highschool girls and sang along.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unlocking my door, we walked into my apartment. Ahh, home sweet home. I kicked off my shoes and threw my coat on Jean. He grunted in annoyance.

“Hey! Don’t just throw your shit on me. I’m not a coatrack!”

I waved him off, “Yeah, yeah, just put it up for me will you? I need to shower.” Stretching my arms over my head I walked towards my bedroom, leaving a complaining Jean behind. “Make sure you order the pizza. You’re paying~” I called over my shoulder.

Jean had already hung up our coats and plopped down on the couch. Pulling out his cell he replied, “You cheap bastard. One hawaiian and one meat lovers?”

I hummed my approval and continued my journey to the bathroom, stripping out of my clothes on the way. Once my boxers were off, I tossed my clothes into the hamper and cut on the shower, waiting for it to become the right temperature. The chill of the apartment was starting to get to me but thankfully, the shower was ready.

Wasting no time, I stepped into the shower, relishing in the way the water washed over my body. It was so close to being too hot, but the heat of the water was welcomed. After standing still and letting the water just wash over me, I got down to business and grabbed my loofah and soap. Scrubbing away the grime and nasty that got on your body during the day felt glorious, which is why my nightly showers were very important in my ever changing day.

When I felt clean enough, I shut off the water and reached for my towel waiting for me outside. After a couple of grabs and no towel, I peeked out from behind the shower door, and realized I hadn’t gotten a towel in the first place! _Oh great, now what? My towel is probably on the bed where I put it this morning, but I can’t go out there. Jean is still here!_

Sighing, I reluctantly climbed out of the shower and walked to the closed bathroom door. Putting my ear to the door, I could hear that the T.V. was on in the living room. _Oh, he’s watching ‘Friends’ reruns._

Throwing caution to the wind, I flung open the door and zoomed out of the bathroom. _Shit, the bedroom door is still open!_ I literally flung myself onto the bed, grabbing the towel that was on it, rolled over , and landed on the floor with a thud. _Damn, that hurt._

“Eren? Eren, you okay in there?” Jean asked from the living room. _Ah hell. Please don’t come in here, please don’t come in here._

“Yeah, I’m good!” _Yeah right_ , “ Just knocked into something. Be out in a minute!” I yelled back. I heard Jean hum in response and the volume of the T.V. turn back up.

_Thank you Jesus._

Pulling myself up from the floor, I dried myself off with my towel. Once I was fully dried, I walked over to my closet and put on some boxers. Now for the pajamas.

I was putting on my blue plaid pajama bottoms, when I heard Jean shout, “Dude! The pizzas here!”

“Alright, I’m coming! Get the plates and cups and don’t forget the pop!” I heard him going through the cupboards while I put on my shirt. By the time I walked into the living room, Jean already had my XBox on, pizza plated up and pop poured in glasses.

“My gosh Jean, if I had known you were this nice and organized, I would’ve scooped you up before Marco did.” I sighed, plopping down beside him on the couch, reaching for my plate. He snorted and sat down next to me with his own plate of pizza.

“Yeah, too late baby. This man is taken~”

“Uh huh, not for long. The next time I see you you might be six feet under.” I heard him make a drawn out groan and I laughed. “Ok, no more talking about you impending doom tonight. Tonight my good man, we play and eat like kings!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We ate and watched some anime on my XBox but once the pizza was all gone, it was racing time.

“You asshole! You just punched me!” Jean screeched, moving his characters, Tails, so he wouldn’t go off the the bridge. My character, Sonic, zoomed past Tails and headed towards the next turn.

“That’s what you get! You knocked me off the track last time, you horse faced jerk.” I growled. Putting all my focus on the game once again, I grabbed on of the mystery tube thingys and got a speed boost. _Hell yeah, lets win this!_

Right before I could use my speed boost, that, that, that monster shot me. With a fucking missile.

I screamed in anger, “Jean, you bastard! You shot me with a fucking missile! A _motherfucking_  missile. We said they were off limits!!” I heard him cackle, fucking cackle, like a evil witch.

“That’s what you get~” He mocked, pulling into first place and crossing the finish line, putting me in second.

“Dammit. That was so not far! I was gonna win that one!” I whined, leaning back into the couch cushions and scowling at the T.V. Jean laughed again and turned to me, sticking out his tongue like the immature jerk he was. _Honestly I don’t see what Marco sees in him._

“Yeah, but ya didn’t. Victory is mine!” He smiled a wide grin, “Awww, come on don’t pout just cause you lost.”

“I’m not pouting.” I said, crossing my arms, and looking away from the person I once called friend. I heard him sigh.

“Eren.” I didn’t respond. “Ereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen~” He drawled, laying his upper body on my lap and wrapping his arms around my waist. I pushed his face away and glared even harder at the wall across from me. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad. I shouldn’t have shot that missile at you, I’m sorry. Do over?”

_No._

 

_Don’t give in Eren._

__

_Don’t be weak Eren don’t-_

“No more missiles next race, annnnnnd you get to shoot me for two races.”

_Dammit._

I sighed dramatically, pushing Jean off of me, “Fine, but if my car so much as flips from a missile, I’m cutting off the game and kicking your ass out.”

“Deal.”

**_10 Minutes Later_ **

“...”

“...”

“What did I just say about missiles?”

“....Sorry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With full stomachs and a clean living room, I was starting to get a bit sleepy and I could tell Jean was too. “Ooooook, it’s like, 11 at night, so I’m heading to bed. Heading home now or staying the night?” No response. “Jean?” I said, turning around and looking into the kitchen where he had went to to get some more pop.

He was just standing there, looking at his phone as white as a sheet. If I hadn’t know any better I would’ve thought he was a ghost. Getting up off the couch and walking to his side, I waved my hand in front of his face. “Yoo-hoo! Anyone home? Jean, answer me already!”

_Geez, this guy… What the heck is his deal? Hmm? What’s that?_

 

I turned my attention to the phone that apparently had all of his attention and saw why he was looking so pale. He got a text from Marco. After reading it, I was amazed.

_Wow. I so did not expect Marco to say stuff like that, my god. I don’t think Jean would even be safe to be on the same street as their apartment is right now, because holy shit, he is pissed._

We both just stared at the text for a moment, trying to process the words on the small screen. “I’ll go get the air mattress.” I said, patting his shoulder. He didn’t respond and I could understand why, so I went to the broom closet and pulled out the brand new air mattress. _Had a feeling_ _this would come in handy soon_ , I cheered silently. _Not that I’m happy Jean souls been ripped out of him. Not at all_. I moved the coffee table to the side of the room, and started to set up the mattress.

After the shock wore off Jean mumbled, “Thanks.” I nodded his way, and started filling the mattress with air.

 ****  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
****


	7. Not a Chapter, Just an Update on the Writing Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To the person who got all excited from seeing the update alert in your inbox for my fic:
> 
> THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER
> 
> So don't bother clicking the link that'll take you to Ao3, because it will say the same thing. If you want to do that, don't listen to me, I do not run your life.
> 
> Now
> 
> It's been a bit tough writing the newest chapter, and I'm sorry that I haven't posted it in over a month. Believe me, I feel like total crap for making you guys wait, and I hope you guys can forgive me.
> 
> On a lighter note, the new chapter is about halfway done, so if I get down to business, it might be out before the end of the month. You guys will be finding out some interesting things about our German beauty (Eren if you didn't guess XD) and hopefully I'll make you guys cry out of happiness by the end of the chappy. 
> 
> Ok, now you can delete this.

For the people who actually clicked the link from the e-mail just cause they wanted to, hi! You already know what's up so how about reading all the chapters again? Hmmmmm? You know you want to ;-)

 

For the people who did not get the e-mail, I'm not gonna rewrite the whole thingy from the chapter summary, cause that takes to long.

 

What I will do is paste it ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／

 

Heck, I'll even bold it for ya:

 

**THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER So don't bother clicking the link that'll take you to Ao3, because it will say the same thing. If you want to do that, don't listen to me, I do not run your life. Now It's been a bit tough writing the newest chapter, and I'm sorry that I haven't posted it in over a month. Believe me, I feel like total crap for making you guys wait, and I hope you guys can forgive me. On a lighter note, the new chapter is about halfway done, so if I get down to business, it might be out before the end of the month. You guys will be finding out some interesting things about our German beauty (Eren if you didn't guess XD) and hopefully I'll make you guys cry out of happiness by the end of the chappy.**

 

There. Now you guys may go and start from the beginning of this fic like everyone else. If you hurry, you might beat the first guy that started reading!

Ugga Bugga out baby!

\\*^*/   \\*^*/   \\*^*/    


	8. Fogged Masks and Blue Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well would ya look at that. I'm not dead! An I actually posted the chapter at the end of the month like I said! Even though I haven't gotten any sleep, I'm ok. Just glad you guys get to read this chapter that's been two months in the making. Gave me all kinds of headaches cause I had writers block and just ugh, no =_='
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and please read the end notes. Thanks! X3

 

Running. **  
**

I’m running as fast as my short, chubby legs can take me.

What am I running from? I don’t know.

Where am I running to? I don’t know that either. All I know is that if I stop running, I’ll be caught and I can’t let that happen. If I slow down they’ll catch me and take me back to _him_ and further away from mommy and daddy. Further away from Annie and Mr. Teddy. I don’t want that!

Wherever I was there was fog. Thick, thick fog that went on and on in all directions, making it impossible to see what was around me.  I could barely see in front of me, but I kept running. _Everything is gonna be ok. I’m gonna make it back home soon and have some of mom’s chocolate chip cookies while sitting on daddy's lap and watching cartoons._

**_It’s gonna be ok._ **

Then, I heard it...footsteps. And they were close. Too close. It was if I could turn around, and if this fog wasn’t around, I’d be able to see who was chasing after me. And most importantly, they were _loud._

Tears started to blur my vision as I put more speed into my sprint. Eventually, the footsteps got quieter and farther away, and I silently cheered. Whoever was chasing me had finally left me alone, so I could go home. But where was home? Where were mommy and daddy? Didn’t they notice that I wasn’t at home? Shouldn’t they be looking for me right now? Why haven’t they found me yet? I’m scared and I wanna go home, and they should have found me by now!

 

I wanted to scream. I wanted to call out to my parents so they could hear me and be able to find me. Get me away from this foggy, scary place. To take me **home**. But I could barely speak. My chest was aching from not getting enough air and my legs were starting to burn. _I was slowing down. No. NO! Don’t slow down, keep going! If you don’t you’ll be caught!_ But I couldn’t. I was tired, and I just wanted to lay down and pray that’d I’d be found by my family. That whoever was chasing me wouldn’t see that I had given up and grab me. That I would be ok.

I hadn’t noticed before, but the fog around me had cleared up completely. What I discovered wasn’t what I expected at all.

Darkness.

Complete darkness all around me. With the white, eerie glow from the fog now gone, I couldn’t see at all. I was still running though. Not as fast as I was in the beginning, but as fast as I could without tripping over my own two feet and falling on my face. Maybe it was the exhaustion or just my fear of not seeing anything that blocked out everything else, because before I knew it, I was being yanked back by the hood of my hoodie by some unknown force.

_No._

_They’d caught up to me. They were gonna take me back to that awful place with that evil man. No no no no no no no. Let go! LET ME GO!!_

I fought whoever had a hold on me. I fought against them, pulling and almost flinging myself away from the hold on me. Finally, after a lot of struggle, I pulled away and tried to run more. Ready to face the darkness as long as I didn’t have to go back. As long as I could be free. But the only thing I faced was the cold, black ground I had been running on only seconds before.

Tears were flowing freely down my face now. I could hear the loud footsteps again, going at a walking pace now, stop right behind me. I opened my mouth to scream again, but nothing came out. _Why?! I want mommy and daddy to hear me so they can take me away from this place. I want out. I want out! Get me out of here, please! I WANT OUT!_ I screamed over and over in my head. Hollered for someone, anyone to come save me, but it was useless. In a final plea I thought, _‘Someone please take me home. I want to go home.’_

As if the person heard my thoughts they responded, “You can’t go back home Eren. You’re going to be staying here with me.”

I was shaking now. The voice was low and creepy, chilling me to my core. I was still face first on the ground, hands clenched into shaking fists at my sides, my fear keeping me from turning around to look at the person behind me.

But I had to! I had to be brave and get a good look at this guys face so I could tell the good guys in blue who they were. So they could put them in jail and far away from me. I still couldn’t look at them though, fear still controlling my body.

“Eren”, the creepy voice called, “Look at me.”

Without even thinking, I obeyed, turning over and using my fisted hands to support my body as I looked up. Instead of seeing a face, all I saw was a **[mask](http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1858680778_2/Free-shipping-Fox-mask-Halloween-Animal-head-costume-Carnival-mask-Japanese-Style-.jpg)**. I couldn’t even see their eyes. All I could see was that they were wearing some weird over sized black shirt with black pants  and a black scarf **[(x)](http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/2f/e1/2a/2fe12a27e65d9537f61bf295029fe4f4.jpg)**. They had bright orange hair in a skinny ponytail over their shoulder. And I could tell that this person who had been chasing me this whole time, was a man, and a tall one at that.

_Wait._

_I can’t be. I can’t be... **him**. H-how did he find me? I was really careful and everything, so how..?_

 

My teeth were chattering together now, but not from being cold. No, it was from pure terror. The one that I had been running from, no, _escaping_ from, had finally caught up with me. He was the one who was going to take me back to where I had ran from in the first place. The place I didn’t want to even think of again. He was here and I was as good as done, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.

Gathering up courage I didn’t even think I had left, I glared at him as hard as I could. I probably didn’t look that scary, with the tears and snot running down my face along with the shaking. Still, I glared like I did to that one kid in my class who called my mom ugly (That was my meanest glare. He should be grateful!)

(A/N: In case you’re wondering, Eren punched the kid and broke his nose when he said it too. Just sayin~ ^^)

Instead of cowering in fear, this jerk just laughed! Chuckling he said, “Aren’t you just too cute. Anyways, come on then. It’s time to go home now.”

_No! I don’t want to go back! Please…_

Again, this, place, that I was stuck in changed. Looking around for the new area, I realized that we were on a street somewhere. It was still dark, but street lamps were on, lighting up the area and allowing me to look around.

It seemed like we were in an alley somewhere, stuck between two old, red brick buildings. There were a few trash cans around us, but otherwise the alleyway was pretty clean. To my left was a metal door that I could’ve probably gone through to safety before, when the man wasn’t right in front of me, and if there was some kind of light. But now, I didn’t have a chance. I could barely see around the creepy man standing in front of me, but from what I could make out, there was a road. No cars coming or going. Heck, there weren’t even any parked cars.Nobody knew. Nobody could help me now. I was all alone and that terrified me.

 

Looking down to the ground, I saw something amazing. My legs had grown, so had my arms, even my hair had grown. I could feel it on my neck in the loose ponytail I usually kept it in. But that wasn’t right. I was a four year old boy who was shorter than most boys at the the time, with short brown hair and chubby legs. I couldn’t look like this, and if I did, then that would mean I was grown up. If I was grown up, then why was I here? Why was this man from so long ago in front of me now?

_So long ago…_

__

_The past?_

__

_If this man was somehow from the past, why was I--_

__

Then it all clicked. The change from a boy to a man. The fog, the darkness. Everything made sense now. This, whatever this was, wasn’t a nightmare or something else. It was a _memory_. And that meant that... _Oh no. I have to get out of here. **Now**._

Focusing back on the creepy man, I realized that he was reaching for me now. His hand was almost touching my shoulder, mask almost inches from my face, with eyes that I couldn’t make out even from this distance, boring into mine. My heart leaped out of my chest as his hand finally made contact with my shoulder, and squeezed. If the mask wasn’t in the way, the man could have damn well been kissing me on the lips.

That was probably what shocked my system enough to allow me to do what I’d been trying to do since this whole thing started .

I screamed.

                                                                                                   *********************************

“...Ren...ake up…”

_Huh?_

Is someone calling me?

“Eren!”

_Who are you?_

“Wake up already!”

_Wake up? What are you talking about? No, first off, who the hell are you?! Why is it so dark? Why can’t I see anything? Tell me!!_

“Eren please…”

The voice sounded desperate now.

_Wait._

__

_Jean?_

__

_Jean! I’m awake! I can hear you! Where are you? Jean, answer me! Answer me you id-_

__

I could feel pounding on my chest. It kept getting harder and harder, to the point where my chest ached. Ugh, stop hitting me Jean.

“Eren, you bastard! Open your eyes!”

Then finally, my eyes opened. The horrible pounding ceased and I heard a gasp. At first, everything was white, but soon things cleared up. The first thing I noticed was the white ceiling of my bedroom. Looking towards the foot of my bed, I saw the red bedroom door (Yes I have a red bedroom door, and I’m proud of it too.) and when I looked to my left, I saw Jean. My eyes widened at the sight. _He looked horrible, my god._

His hair was sticking up in every direction, like he’d been pulling on his hair for too long. Wide bloodshot eyes with tears and snot running down his reddened face. Lips parted in surprise and relief. Wrinkled t-shirt and pajamas bottoms clinging to him like a second skin, no doubt from the all the sweat coming off of him. Jean was a complete and utter mess.

Finding my words I said, “Eww Jean. Your snot is going into your mouth. Close it.” _Was that really my voice? It sounded like it was put through a grinder and my throat was all scratchy and dry. Come to think of it, my body ached. Ugh, I felt like shit. Jean looked like shit. Everything was shit. God._

Jean’s voice took me from my thoughts. “...Eren.” He called in disbelief. More tears started to run down his cheeks, teeth clenching. Before I got a chance to sit up and ask what was wrong, he yanked me up by the arm, _Ow_ ,  and hugged me. Hard. Again, **_OW_**. It was like he thought if he let go I’d disappear.

It took me a second to get my arms working, but once I did, I wrapped them around him, holding on as tightly as I could manage. _He’s shaking. Oh great, what the hell did I do to him this time? What memories did I dig up?_

Instead of asking I just held him, rubbing his head until he calmed down. That was another habit from our childhood. Jean was a pretty clumsy guy when were younger, so he’d always run into or trip over shit and hurt himself. Whenever he’d start crying because of it, I would always sit next to him, no matter where he was, and rub the back of his head. For some odd reason, he’d always calm down and that’d only happen when I would do it. His mom tried once and that only made more tears fall until I stepped in and calmed him down. It became a thing for us after a while. If Jean cried, I would be there next to him, rubbing his head in silence until he calmed down and collected himself. _Heh, the big crybaby. Oh well._

It had been a few minutes since Jean stopped shaking but he didn’t move, so neither did I. After what felt like hours, Jean pushed himself away from me. His face was still wet so he must have just stopped crying and the snot (Ewww) was still fresh too. He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.

“Before you say anything and end up choking on your own snot and tears, I’m gonna go get some tissues ok?” He nodded his head slowly, showing he understood, and I got off the bed. My legs felt like I had a million needles in them and they were wobbly to boot! Luckily, by the time I got to the bathroom door, they were painless and sturdy

After opening a few drawers I found a box of unopened tissues. Grabbing the box and a couple of baby wipes, I headed back through the bathroom doorway and walked over to Jean, plopping down in front of him on the bed. He was looking down, toying with a loose thread on his t-shirt. I smiled a bit at the sight.

Tapping his chin, I cleared my throat, letting him know that he needed to look up now. When he looked at me, I was met with tired, baggy eyes. Poor guy. Whatever I did must have scared him to death. “Close your eyes” I said softly. He did it immediately and I got to work and started wiping.

Five wipes later, his face was as clean as my coffee table. Contrary to common belief, I am not a slob. Far from it actually. I’m one of the cleanest out of all of my friends! I mean, sure, I have my off days, but for the most part I’m good.

Anyway, I gave Jean the box of now opened tissues (cause the guy looked so bad I opened it for him) and let him blow his nose and… ** _OH MY GOD!!_**  He’s putting his nasty ass tissues on my comforter!

My newly washed comforter.

 

As in, I just used it.

Last night.

_Ohohohohohohohohohoh_

Jean having  not noticed my inner turmoil, started talking, “You...you really gave me a scare, you know that?”

Looking up in confusion I asked, “Oh yeah. What the heck did I do to shake you up this bad? It must have been something pretty bad.” Bracing myself for the worst, I waited.

A small pause. “You screamed.”

I looked at him incredulously. A scream? That was it? Hell, I thought I started turning into a monster, tried to kill him, or something worse. But screaming? Not on the list. “I only screamed? I thought it was something waaaaay worse.”

Jean made a noise showing his irritation, “No you dumbass! You _screamed_ bloody murder. Like you were cornered and had no way out. I thought someone was trying to kill you! And then…” He trailed off, looking at his tightly clasped hands.

Images of the dream (memory?) flashed in my mind, but I pushed them aside. Leaning forward and putting my hand on Jean’s shoulder I asked, “ And then?”

The angle his head was tilted made it difficult for me to see his expression but it looked like he was making a pained expression. Like whatever happened was so bad that remembering physically hurt him. And even though I knew this, I had to know. I had to know what’s making him like this. I know it’s selfish of me, believe me I do, but how else can I know?

Blinking a few times, Jean looked up, looked me in the eyes and said, “You stopped breathing.”

_What?_

“I tried shaking you awake” he continued, “but it didn’t work. Then you suddenly stopped breathing. I didn’t notice at first, but when you started turning blue I panicked.” He blinked a few more times, voice cracking, “I t-tried to make you breath...tried so h-hard but…”

He sounded like he wanted to cry again. Like he was going to have a total breakdown. So I placed my hand on his shoulder again and stopped him.

“That’s enough. It’s ok now, Jean. I’m here, I’m breathing. Everything is ok, alright?” I said, pulling him into another hug. I felt him let out a shaky sigh and nodded into my shoulder, sagging in relief. It was like all the weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and that made me smile again.

Glancing over at my clock on the nightstand, I saw that it was 8:45 in the morning. Perfect. “Hey Jean?” He grunted in response. “Want some pancakes? It’s almost 9 and we’re both probably hungry, so…”

“Will there be any of your kickass bacon next to my pancakes?”

I grinned, “Of course.” I felt him shift a bit and I knew I’d won.

“Will they be blueberry pancakes?” I could hear the smile in his voice and that made me feel even better.

“Yep.” I said, making a pop sound at the end.

“...Ok.”

                                                                                                **********************************

“Eren!! Where’s my food?!”

“Hold your _horses_ Jean~ I’m a comin’!”

“Eren...Really? It’s too early for that shit.”

“Never too early to make fun of you!”

“Ugh. Shut up and make the pancakes already.”

“Hmm, maybe if you stopped your yapping, I’d actually be able to finish.”

Jean huffed at me, but remained quiet. Finally. Peace.

We showered, separately of course, and got dressed about 30 minutes ago. By then we were both starving, so I started on breakfast while Jean sat his big ass on the kitchen island and started playing flappy bird on his phone. I got started on the batter for the pancakes, remembering how mom taught me, but throwing in a few things to make it my own, and swayed to a song in my head. Everything was calm, peaceful even, until Jean shouted out ‘Fuck!’ and it was all over. Then he started complaining about how flappy bird was rigged just so he couldn’t get past level one, because the creators had a grudge about something he did in his past life. I tuned out riiiiiiight about then too.

Then came the nagging. ‘Eren, when will the pancakes be done?’, or ‘Eren, I’m starving. Hurry up!’ and finally, ‘I don’t pay you to sit on your ass and do nothing!’ Correct me if I’m wrong, but who was sitting on _my_  kitchen island playing flappy bird? Hmmm? Did one of you beautiful readers say  _Jean Kirschtein_? Wonderful, you get a star and a basket of cookies.

Thus leading up to me insulting Jean, and him finally shutting the fuck up. Christ, he had a mouth on him. Anyway, I took the bowl of batter I’d been stirring over to the hot griddle top, and carefully poured four medium sized circles of batter onto it. Hearing that satisfying sizzle, I put the half empty bowl of batter down, and went to the fridge.

Pulling out a package of turkey bacon, because who the hell doesn’t love that stuff my god, I walked back to the stove top, flipped the pancakes over, and got to work on the bacon. Putting the bacon into the pan, I watched it, lookin at it transform from a pale slab of meat, to a gorgeous, crispy piece of bacon. As I took the first batch of bacon out of the pan and onto the towels, it took all of my willpower not to eat any. Oh and the _smell_ in that kitchen. Dear lord, I was dying from inhaling all those glorious smells and not being able to eat anything. Still, I knew Jean was suffering, if his groans anguish were anything to go by, which made the experience a bit more bearable.

When the final piece of bacon was out of the pan, ready to dry and join the pancakes, I grabbed a bit of whip cream from the fridge and let them have it. With a couple of blueberries on top and bacon by it’s side, they were all dolled up and ready to go. Walking over to the island I plopped a plate in front of Jean. “Your pancakes monsieur~” I said in my best french accent.

As soon as he laid eyes on the plate his face lit up like a christmas tree. Before I even had a chance to sit on my stool, he was cutting into his pancakes and wolfing that sucker down. _Damn, he eats fast. He hasn’t even touched the syrup_. “No syrup this time?” I questioned. Usually he drowns his pancakes, but hunger can do things to a man.

Swallowing another piece he replied, “Not this time. The whip cream is enough.” Then he was gone again, ripping into his bacon like no tomorrow.

I shrugged, “Suit yourself.” and picked up the bottle of syrup, pouring some onto my pancakes and bacon. All you could here was the clinking of forks and chewing. No conversation whatsoever. _We were that hungry_. Although, I could tell we both didn’t mind the silence. Besides the clinking and scraping, it was pretty peaceful and calm. And with the morning we had, we needed this silence more than anything.

Unfortunately with quiet came thinking, and my thoughts went back to the dream that I had. About the man that I knew all too well. How he haunted me even though we were so far apart. Of what he did to me those times. Of how he-- _Stop! No more of this. I can’t do this right now. Think of something else...something else…_ And with that, my thoughts drifted to Cafe Zoe, upcoming art projects and Mikasa.

She’d sent me an email last night and I was going to check it on my phone, but I was too tired, and decided that it could wait until tomorrow when I actually had some brain cells available for communication. Just as I was about to take my phone out of my pocket, Jean jumped up from his chair, knocking it over.

“What the hell man?” I asked, whipping my head towards his direction. He was holding his phone, staring at it with a pale face. _Oh dear lord, not again_. “What? Did Marco threaten to rip off you dick and shove it up your ass? Or is it worse?” I taunted. He turned to glare at me.

“Fuck off Jaeger. And no, it’s just that I have a date with Marco at 1:30. I’m not really sure if he wants to see me though. _Oh, ok_.

“Text him. Ask if you guys are still on for 1:30.” Surprisingly, he did what I told him, and sent a quick text. We both stared at his phone, food forgotten as we waited for a response. As soon as the ding chimed he swiped up his phone and read the text. A smile spread across his face.

“He says we’re still on.” He said, letting out a sigh of relief and happiness.

I grinned, “Sweet. You should get going then.” Jean turned to me, looking confused.

“Why?”

I rolled my eyes. _Of course the idiot didn’t look at the time. Too busy bothering me and shoveling food in his mouth_. “Because it’s 1:00” I sang. The look on his face was priceless. It was a mixture of confusion, shock, anger, and horror. You should have been there.

“Oh my go-SHIT!! I’ve gotta go!” He shrieked, shoveling the rest of his, well, **brunch** in his mouth. “Fee woo later!” He said around the food, dashing for his coat by the door.

“Don’t forget to buy flowers!” I yelled. I heard and faint ‘Thank you!’ before my door slammed and locked.

_Well, looks like I’m on dish duty_. Sighing, I finished the rest of my breakfast quickly, then got up to clean of the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.  

                                                                                              ***********************************

Falling onto my couch, I stretched out and and snuggled on the pillows. Then I remembered I had to do something. I was on the brink of sleep, when my phone dinged from my butt pocket. Sighing, I pulled out the device and held it up to my face. _An email froooooom, oh, Mikasa! I forgot all about that!_ Clicking on the alert took me straight to my g-mail where the email was already open and waiting.

**Dear Eren,**

_Wow Kasa, why so formal? I’m not your business partner._

 

**You’ve probably forgotten all about the e-mail I sent you earlier, so I’m sending you another one. If you had actually read the first one you’d know that I am here in the States, waiting for your German ass to get up and come greet me like a civilized person. I’m sitting in this big park with lots of trees and a pretty view of the lake. Come get me so I don’t have to track you down. Also, I have a surprise for you~**

 

**Hurry up baka,**

**Mikasa**

I laid there in shock. _Mikasa was here? In the States? Right now? Wait, what? When in the hell did she get here? Oh right, the older e-mail._

_Yeah._

__

_Mikasa._

__

_Here._

__

_HOLY GLITTER SHITTING ALPACAS!! I HAVE TO GO GET HER!_

__

Jumping up from the couch, I zoomed into my bedroom and threw on a pair of grey skinny jeans, a band t-shirt, my necklace, a couple of bracelets and my Vans. ‘Cause well, I couldn’t exactly leave the house in very short shorts, a tank top and socks now could I? With that I headed to the front door and opened it. Making sure the door was locked up tight, I hopped onto the elevator to the lobby, waved to the door man, popped in a couple of tic tacs, and went on my trek to the park to pick up my one Asian girl to go.

(A/N: See what I did there? :3)

***************************

****  


I had forgotten how far away the park was from my house. By the time I got there it was almost 4, and people were everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean _everywhere_. It was like everyone crawled out of the woodwork. I didn’t even know we had this many people in our city. Thankfully, the park wasn’t that full. There was a few people here and there, but other than that, it was calm.

Walking through the old brick arches at the entrance of the park, I scanned around, looking for an Asian girl with a red scarf. And sure enough, there she was sitting on a bench with her back turned towards me. I started walking towards her and called while waving, “Mikasa!”

She jumped a bit, then turned towards me, a smile taking over her features. Standing up, she waved back. As I got closer I noticed that there was someone else on the bench. _Had she already made a friend? Or maybe she had relatives here?_ Not thinking about it too much I continues walking until she turned to who was with her. Mikasa said something I couldn’t hear from my distance but whatever it was got her companion to stand up as well. Mikasa turned back to me, a wide grin on her face, similar to the one when I sent her a copy of _Assassin’s Creed_ for her birthday. _What’s got you all grinning and giddy Kasa?_ I soon found out when her companion stepped from behind her, a look of surprise on their face that matched mine.

_Annie._

_Annie was here too. I didn’t even know_. Using the last bit of brain cells I had left I thought back to the e-mail. _A surprise...Annie was the surprise. Kasa, you sly dog._

I continued to stare at Annie. She looked exactly the same only with long hair in a bun instead of a pony tail, and _duh_ , she was older. What caught me off guard was her face. Now see, Annie rarely showed any emotion, and even _I_   had only seen her smile a few times and I was her best friend. Right now though, she was showing so much emotion my brain didn’t really  know how to take it.

Her icy blue eyes as wide as dinner plates, mouth parted slightly, and were those, tears? _Oh my gosh, she’s crying. My brain is about to explode. Fucking overload man, woah!_

She tilted her head down for a moment, something she always did when she was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to see. _Same old Annie huh_? I chuckled to myself, holding my arms out wide and called, “Annie!” Her head shot up, a look of surprise on her face, and a blush on her cheeks. I could have sworn I saw a flash of anger in her eyes before she came at me.

She was moving so fast I didn’t even have a chance to scream before she tackled me in one of the most bone crushing hugs I’d ever experienced in my life. Before I knew it, we were laying in the grass, and I heard Annie saying something in German. I caught the words ‘bastard’, ‘left too soon’, and a ‘don’t do that again’.

I was starting to loose air, so I tapped her with one of my trapped hands, “Annie….can’t breath….Air!” She released me immediately and looked at me with concern in her eyes. _Yep, same old Annie. Beats you up but worries about your safety_. I smiled up at her as I caught my breath.

“...What’s the stupid smile for?” she grumbled, flicking me on the head. I just giggled some more, making her huff in mock irritation. We laid there for a bit, before Annie’s eyes widened and she asked voice laced with concern, “What’s wrong?”

I felt a familiar burning sensation in my eyes and tears rolling down my cheeks. I was crying because it’d been years since I’d seen my best friend. I was crying because I had that scary flashback early. I was crying because my rock since we were babies, Annie, was there. I was crying because I could finally let everything that I was feeling while consoling Jean out and Annie would be there for me. I wouldn’t let her know that yet though. I wanted to catch up first, then we can talk.

Wrapping my arms around her in an impossibly tight hug I mumbled into her shoulder, “Missed you.” I heard her suck in a breath, then she latched onto me, crying her heart out with me. In the grass, in a park with people who would look, some who would point, but I didn’t care. Because it was ok now.

We were finally together again.

And that meant more to me than anyone will ever know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ **Here are Annie and Mikasas outfit (use your imagination to add in Mikasas red scarf)** ](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=163007028)

_**Annnnnnnnnnnd** _

[ **Here's Erens outfit** ](http://www.polyvore.com/erens_park_look/set?id=163004475)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yello! So, I put this in the end notes of the one-shot I did, 'Pass the Milk Please'. For the people who haven't read it yet, i'll re say what I said:
> 
> Basically I fixed up my tumblr so you guys can send me prompts and requests and stuff like that. I though it'd be able to help me get out of my slump and kick my writers blocks butt! Unfortunately, nobody sent me anything, and I was all on my own T~T
> 
> But it's ok you guys. If you think of anything that ya want written, send me either a fan mail, but I know that the fan mail system is weird, so there's an 'Ask Me Anything' section at the top of my page.
> 
> Oh yeah, here is my url: chunghee22.tumblr.com
> 
> I will be waiting.
> 
> Ugga Bugga out baby! \\*^*/


	9. First Day to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! This is Misty! I know, right? I'm alive? Thy be witchcraft or wizardry!  
> Anyway, here's your long awaited chapter! I'm so sorry that took so long. e-e I hate excuses, but I just finished my last big test today, so with a breath of relief I can get back to writing. ^_^ And this was seriously overdo.  
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Have an awesome day! :D

“I see how it is.” I lifted my head up from Annie’s neck (Which was not the most comfortable of positions considering her height) to look over to Mikasa, seeing her tilt her hip over to the side with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Huh…?” I pondered out loud.

“Go over there to hug your friend, but no love for your long lost pen pal? How terrible.” She remarked with barely a sarcastic tone behind her speech. “My heart hurts now, Eren.”

“You must be suffering,” I retorted before unlatching my arms from Annie to offer up a hug for Mikasa. One of those rare smiles crossed her lips before she walked up to us and gave me a hug. Just like Annie, she gave some pretty heavy handed hugs, but from the way she spoke from time to time over skype, I had picked up the idea.

“Yeah, it’s been pretty hard.” She said softly against my ear.

“What is this long lost pen pal crap you’re going on about? We talk way too often for you to be _‘long lost’_.” I said and motioned with my fingers to emphasize what I was saying.

“But I’ve never actually met you out of a computer screen before.” Mikasa said, and quickly her eyes began looking up and down my body. Now that I thought about it, we never really had talked beyond letters and computer screens. I had seen Mikasa plenty of times, but that was always through a terribly pixilated screen as big as my computer screen. I had never seen her in person, so it shouldn’t have been considered off that I was now checking her out.

Mikasa looked a lot thinner in person. They said the TV screen adds ten pounds, but was that true even for computers? She was dressed down due to the hot weather, with a black tank top and denim shorts. With her hat and bracelets added to the ensemble, anyone or even I would have thought she was some sort of model out for a walk in the park.

She usually never looked like this. Because of the time difference, the two of us were on skype at the most inappropriate of times. It was always either very late her time where she lived or very early when we talked, because we had no other times to do it. Sometimes when it was daytime here she’d be up late into the night when she didn’t have school the next day, so we talked sometimes then. With her school, it was usually later in the evening though. She was always dressed down in pajamas with her hair messed up and her complexion pale.

She had just a bit of make up on. It wasn’t so overbearing that it was inappropriate for a walk in the park, but just enough to give her a healthy glow and to hide those dark circles under her eyes that I knew were there. A bit of mascara and eye liner made her eyes look just a bit bigger, and I wasn’t a professional with makeup, but she might have been wearing some lip gloss. Mikasa had naturally tinted lips to begin with, unless she made it a habit of sleeping in her makeup, which I had only ever seen her do once after her eighteenth birthday party. She said she had been too tired after finals and her party to even lift a finger, and true to her word, she didn’t even end the call. She fell asleep on her keyboard, endlessly typing a “k” in the chat box until I closed skype all together.

This was a totally different person from what I was used to, but I couldn’t say it was a bad thing. This person looked so much healthier than the one I usually was on skype with. After all of her testing and finally a vacation after who knows how long (I don’t think she ever took one before), this was desperately needed.

“You’re taller than I thought you would be,” Mikasa said softly.

“Huh…? When did I ever give you the impression that I was short?”

“Jean is taller than you.” She stated.

Mikasa had met Jean plenty of times before. Sometimes he would poke his head between mine and the screen and start flirting with her. Sometimes Mikasa decided to play with his mind and act like her English really wasn’t as good as it was. The first time she did that, I nearly dropped to the floor in tears from laughter.

Jean was so utterly confused. He couldn’t stop questioning how I had been talking to her this whole time if her English was as crappy as she made it sound, because I surely didn’t speak Japanese. I knew some things after knowing her for so long, but not enough to actually hold up a conversation. It was most of the basics, some unusual words that usually stuck in your mind that you’d never forget, and some common phrases you’d hear on a day to day basis. It was nothing special.

“Jean’s just freakishly tall.” I waved the comment off like it was nothing, because it wasn’t. I was five foot seven, which was average around where I lived. Jean just happened to be taller. “You’re taller than I expected you to be too.”

“How so?”

“Well, aren’t Asians usually… I don’t know. Short…?”

“Could you be anymore racist?” Annie suddenly asked, reminding me that she was still there. She had a tendency to be very quiet, but she would always pop into a conversation when it was needed.

“I’m not trying to be! I thought that was how it was!”

“Not everyone that’s Asain is short. That’s like saying all Asian men have tiny penises.” She told me.

“… They don’t?”

“Oh my…” Mikasa mumbled quietly. “You don’t get out of the house much, do you?”

“No, not really.” I couldn’t lie. Without a job (Though my new one didn’t count) and with Jean being my only social life outside of our place, I never really left for a day to myself unless it was for school. “I thought we established this already.”

“I told you he was stupid.” Annie flashed one of those small, rare smiles, but right now it looked more like a smirk than it did a smile.

“Well I knew that already.” Mikasa said.

“Hey,” I whined and frowned.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t love you though.” My pen pal assured me.

“Uh huh…” I tilted my head and rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the simultaneous giggling that they both did.

“Come on, Eren,” Annie motioned towards the bench the two had been sitting at which still held most of their things. “Come sit. It’s been a while, so let’s talk.”

“You make that sound like you’re about to expose me for something.” I said before hesitantly taking a seat at the end of the bench. My two friends sat beside one another on the other side, sharing a similar look (This was mental girl talk. It had to be) before looking to me.

“No, baka.” Mikasa chided.

They’re plotting my death. I know it.

“So you’ve gotten taller since I’ve last seen you, Eren.” Annie mumbled.

“Have I…?” I asked and made a weird face. “It hasn’t been that long, has it?” To that, Annie shrugged.

“It’s been long enough.”

“You should visit more often then.” I told her. “Like, this isn’t enough.”

“I know, but what can you do?” She asked. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

“Aren’t you just philosophical?” I uttered. I looked over to Mikasa, about to ask her something when I noticed the way she was mumbling something under her breath. “Mikasa, what’s wrong?”

“What did you say?” She asked. “That word… Phili…”

“Philosophical…” Annie said for her.

“Oh, it means… Uhm…” Wait, what did it mean again?

“It has multiple meanings. Eren used it to describe how I’m acting.” Annie continued for me.

“Oh…”

“I knew that…” I grumbled begrudgingly.

I didn’t know how long the two of them were sitting here, but they were already becoming the best of friends. Goodie.

“You stalled.” She continued.

“I didn’t stall.”

“You stalled like you dropped your transmission.”

“Oh haha. You’re a comical genius. You out due me at every turn.” Had Mikasa not been between us, I probably would have pushed at the blond. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have either. She would have kicked my ass for it, because this short four foot nine girl would put my ass to the ground quicker than a car could get to sixty miles per hour. “How will I ever beat you?”

“Grow a pair.”

“Hey!” I yipped. Mikasa covered her mouth to hide a small giggle, a small sound that had me blushing and closing my legs. “God, Annie…” I grumbled again.

“Actually it’s Queen Annie. The status of God doesn’t appeal to me.”

Have I mentioned that she can be sarcastic? She was quiet and could easily glare at someone like she wanted to kill them, but if you knew her like I did, and knew that all of that was just a façade, you’d know that she actually had a relatively bad sense of humor and a harsh sense of sarcasm most people didn’t find funny.

“Your majesty, I believe our taxi has arrived.” Mikasa remarked softly and pointed off to the direction of the road.

Her sense of humor and sarcasm was a lot kinder than Annie’s was.

“Wha- Already? You just got here.” I complained quickly.

“Yes, and now we’re going to the hotel to check in.” Annie said and stood to grab her things.

“ _Hotel?_  What hotel?”

“The hotel down Main Street.” Mikasa explained while stretching her back.

“No way! There’s no way you guys are staying in a hotel while you’re in America!” I complained some more and pulled Annie’s suitcase from her hand.

“So what do you suggest then?” She asked, taking a moment to let me hold her stuff.

“You can stay with Jean and I!” I told them. The two girls looked back at each other again, a silent conversation happening between them. Seriously, how do girls do that?

“No,” They both said at the same time.

“Why not…?”

“Because I know you have no room to spare.” Mikasa said.

“And because you’re a guy living in a small living space that you don’t clean.” Annie added.

“We’re here for break and that’s a month long.” Mikasa continued.

“You don’t want two girls living with you.” Annie concluded.

“Did you seriously just have that conversation with each other just by looking at each other? How? How do girls do that?”

“Woman’s secret.” Annie reached for her bag again, but I pulled it away.

“You just got here.” I pouted, making my eyes wider and sticking out my lower lip to emphasize my disappointment.

“And we’ll be here for a whole month. I’ll be here a week longer than Mikasa even. We’ve got time to see each other, Eren, but let us go and rest for a day or two.”

“Not to mention the time difference is so drastic.” Mikasa spoke up and pointed out. “It’s one in the morning back home, and I’m really tired…”

“Right…” I sighed as I relinquished Annie’s suitcase.

“Eren, don’t frown like that. When we’ve had a few days to adjust, we’ll all go out to lunch and really sit down to talk.” Annie assured me and took her suitcase back.

“And you can finally show me this thing you call real American steak.” Mikasa patted my shoulder, reassuring me in her own way that didn’t feel all too mocking.

“We’ll have to go to a steak house for lunch then.” I smiled lightly to her.

“Treating both of us to steak? You’re going to be broke.” Annie said sarcastically, though she didn’t show it on her face.

“Wait, I never said I’d pay for you two.”

“You’re too kind, Eren.” Mikasa said as she began wandering off in the direction towards the taxi.

“H-Hey…!” By the time I could even think up of an argument, the two were already getting their stuff into the taxi.

I had a really bad feeling about leaving those two alone. I felt like I had been given the key to Pandora’s Box, and now the key was shoved so far up my ass that it wasn’t coming out anytime soon.

I was in so much trouble.

* * *

 

Keys: Check.

Phone: Check.

Wallet: Check

Was that all I needed?

Hanji hadn’t told me if I needed to bring anything specific with me to my first day of work. I knew I needed my usual things when I went out, but she never bothered talking about paper work, licensing or anything any job would need. I wasn’t much of an expert in the world of working, but there had to be more to it, wasn’t there?

I couldn’t truly know. If anything, I’d find out on the job. That was if I bothered keeping it. I still wasn’t sure about this yet, but I was going to give it a try. Like I said already to Jean and Hanji, I’d give it a shot.

_Sender: Armin Arlert_

_Received at 2:15 p.m._

_“Just breathe. This lady, Hanji right? She sounds pretty cool. She sounds like the type of person that knows you’re going to make early mistakes and will laugh them off, because she’s been there herself. She’ll be okay, so you’ll more than likely like her and feel right at home.”_

Armin and I had been texting back and forth as I got ready. Usually I’d go to Jean, but the horse face was out with his boyfriend, per the usual. He wasn’t answering his phone, which meant all of two things. One: It was dead. Two: They were having sex.

I’d hate to imagine the two having sex (I _really_ hated the idea), but Jean’s phone was ever so rarely dead. So that meant the latter option was probably what was happening as of right now.

_Draft_

_Written at: 2:15 p.m._

_“That’s what I’m afraid of, Armin. I don’t want to like this place. I want to find a reason to hate this place, because I don’t want to stay. I don’t want to keep this job, and right now I’m looking for a miracle to get me out of this first day of work shit.”_

I hated this. I really did. I knew Hanji was right. Jobs were not permanent, and I definitely didn’t have to say, but I should at least try. I wouldn’t know until I try, and maybe I’d end up liking it. I didn’t like that idea either.

_Sender: Armin Arlert_

_Received at: 2:16 p.m._

_“Don’t try to be too hard on yourself. I know people can get like that; I’ll admit I’ve done it myself, but if you too upset about doing what you don’t like, it’ll show. It’ll show, and you’re going to make everyone else around you uncomfortable and uneasy. Try to hide it at least so you don’t upset others.”_

Easier said than done, Armin.

* * *

“Eren!” Hanji’s shrill voice hit me so fast that I recoiled right out of the door. I hadn’t been prepared to hear that the moment I got into the shop, but it rendered me near deaf from the pitch. “No, no! Come back!”

“Point two seconds. You scared him away faster than the last one.” I heard Petra say as I walked into the café, this time slowly and with my head down.

“Oh I’m so glad you’re here today!” Hanji beamed a great big smile as she walked (More like slowly ran) her way over to me. I was prepared to shake her hand, but instead I was pulled into another one of her infamous hugs that crushed my lungs and made it so hard to breathe. “And I’m glad you came back!”

“Aha, right…” I uttered, keeping my head down once she let me go.

“Eren, I’m terribly sorry, but I got stuck with some awful bills I have to take care of.” The woman whined with a pout. “It won’t take long at all, but would you be okay with Petra showing you where everything is for now? Once I’m done I’ll be back out to start teaching you the basics.”

“Oh sure. I mean if Petra doesn’t mind that is.”

“Of course not,” Petra assured me with a genuine smile.

“Great! I’ll be back in no time!” Hanji mused with a sing song tone before leaving the room to her office in the back, an office which I haven’t seen yet.

I sighed; well, the worst part was over… I think.

“You okay, Eren?” Petra asked me after leaving the table she had been serving.

“Uhm… I think so?”

No. I wanted to say no. No, I wasn’t okay. With this. With where I was. I wasn’t okay with any of it.

“Don’t be worried about anything, Eren. I know she’s really loud, but if you’re ever in a bad spot, Hanji will be the first one coming to you to help.” She patted my shoulder before motioning for me to follow her. “So let’s get started. There’s a lot to learn, but don’t try to learn it all in one day if you can. That’ll drive you insane.”

“What exactly will I be doing while I work here?” I asked as I followed her back to the kitchen.

“Well that depends on how long you stay. If you plan on staying here, it’ll be a little of everything, but we aren’t going to start with everything. One thing at a time as they say.” She assured me. I followed her through the kitchen door to the room where the magic happens.

Had I been given a tour like before, I would have known where everything was and what I was expecting, but the kitchen was smaller than I thought it would be. It wasn’t too small; it seemed like the perfect size for this type of restaurant and in this type of location. I hadn’t seen this place too incredibly busy since I first found it, and it hadn’t been any busier since I had first stepped in, so it wasn’t too bad.

“This is the kitchen. Hanji can be a very messy person, so you’ll have to learn to clean up after her messes. You’re in college, right? Your schedule may be a little iffy to begin with, but if you get to work with Levi soon, he’ll make sure you learn, and fast.” Petra said with a small grin.

“Uhm, Levi?”

“Yes, he’s another employee here. He’s been here just a bit longer than I have, but he knows this place inside and out. If you’re ever in a bad spot, he’ll be there for you too.” Petra set down the dishes she had been carrying beside the sink while she spoke, making sure nothing fell over into the clean side. “I could have sworn he was working today too…” She muttered to herself.

“And you, Petra?” I asked.

“What about me?”

“If I’m ever in a tight spot, you’ll help me too?”

“Of course,” She said. “We’re a family here, Eren. Whether you like it or not, we’re stuck with you, even if you don’t work here. So don’t worry.”

“… Sure?” How was I supposed to respond to that? I didn’t want them being nice to me. That meant that I had less of an excuse to quit. I needed something to work with, something that can be an excuse to leave, but how could I if they were going to be so kind?

Don’t do that. Don’t be nice to me. Don’t treat me like family.

I don’t need to be left behind again.

“Do you think you’ve got it?”

“Huh…?” I asked out loud, not realizing that Petra had been talking to me.

“I said, do you think you’ve got it?”

“Got what…?” No need getting myself fired. Keep yourself together, Eren.

“Levi can be pretty harsh at times, but don’t let get to you. He does it to everyone and he means absolutely nothing by it. He’s actually a real softie when he chooses to be, even though that’s still pretty cold, but give him time. He’ll warm up to you eventually. Got it?”

“Oh, y-yeah. That’s not a problem. I’m sure I’ve met worse than him.”

“You hang around some odd people there, Eren.” Petra walked towards the door to grab at an apron before tossing it to me. I caught it limply in my hands, giving her a confused look before she answered my inner turmoil. “Today, you work for Café Zoe. Gotta look the part, right?”

“Sure,” I really didn’t know what else to say. Besides agreeing, I just had to go along with them until this was all over.

“I’ll give you a quick tour of the place, and then we’ll start you with some waiting.”

“Why with that?”

“Because it can make good tips. Even if it’s slow here, if you do it right, you can make some decent pocket change.” Petra reached into her apron’s pocket and held out the money she had garnered from today. “I started work at ten today, so I’ve only made about thirty three dollars. Last I counted anyway.”

“That’s still some good money.” I said, definitely surprised. She was the only waitress here today though, so I could understand how she was making that kind of money.

“Well, it’s not that hard of a job. Smile, take orders, bring people their orders, and check them out. I promise you that it’s not that hard… Unless you’ve got an asshole. Then there could be problems.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Petra didn’t strike me as the type of person who cussed very often, but in this line of work, she must have met some of the worst people. I couldn’t even imagine it. I didn’t get along well with people in general, so this was going to be entertaining if I really did try staying.

“Alright, ready to start?” Petra asked me.

“Start what?” I asked while adjusting the apron on me.

“Waiting on tables.”

“Wait, already? Aren’t you going to show me what to do?” I asked incredulously.

“It’s easy, just like I said. I want to see what you can do.” Petra turned me around by my shoulders and pushed me forward out of the kitchen.

“W-Wait! I don’t even know what’s on the menu!” I told her while pushing against her hands, but for all of her tiny stature, it seemed like Petra was the one who had all of the strength right now.

“They have menus at their tables.” She told me and shoved me out onto the floor. I looked around at the faces of the customers, all of which were preoccupied with talking to one another about random things I couldn’t have cared less for. A new couple was sitting at a table not too far off, a couple that hadn’t been sitting there when I walked in. I felt my heart drop the moment I spotted them, and the moment they looked up at me, I wanted to turn around and say ‘I quit.’

“Miss Petra-!”

“Go on, Eren.”

“What am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to do?”

“Talk to them as if they aren’t customers. That’ll earn you more tips. Be sociable.”

“That’s easier said than done-!” She shoved at me again, this time throwing me into the line of fire that had the eyes of the customers on me. I couldn’t turn away; I didn’t want to give the shop a bad name. I just didn’t want to work here, but what was I supposed to do? I had a good idea of what from TV shows and movies, but those were fictional things. How much of that could I believe?

Alright, I could handle this. It was just one order, and like she said. Just talk to them and find out what they wanted to eat or drink.

Wait, what did we have for drinks here?

“Uhm… H-How are you today?” I started off with as I came up to the table.

Don’t let them smell my fear. I can handle that much at least.

“I’m good,” The woman with red hair said.

“Fine, thank you,” The man across from her said.

“I’m Eren. I’ll be taking care of you guys today.” I said and forced a smile on my lips. This really was easier said than done. “Can I get you guys anything to drink for starters?” That was a usual line one asked, right?

“Hm, I was thinking about getting the caramel mocha. What do you think, Hannah?” The man asked from across the table.

“Actually I was looking at the little cups of hot coco you guys have. Do you really put those cute little drawings in them with the melted chocolate?” The woman, Hannah asked while motioning to the picture on the menu.

Right, Petra said they had them, but fuck. How was I supposed to know if they had drawings?

“They can if you want them too,” I said. Was that okay? If not, I’d be putting more work on myself.

Just great.

“I’ll take one. Can we make a request for the picture?”

“Well I’m no artist, so I can’t promise the Mona Lisa.” I openly joked, and I was surprised by the laughter the two of them emitted. This was actually working some. “I can try whatever it is though.”

“Just a little heart then? I think that would be cute.”

“Yeah, I can do that. What about you?” I asked the man still sitting across from her. “Should I possibly draw a little bow and arrow and have it pointed at her heart?”

“Nah, I think I’m okay.” He said and laughed again. “I’ll take the caramel mocha please.”

“Sure. I’ll bring those right out. Do you two think you’re ready to order anything else?”

“No, we’ll need a bit more time.” Hannah assured. “Thank you though.”

“Not a problem. If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks.” I told them and wandered off. I could see Petra’s head sticking out from the kitchen door, brown eyes watching me intently with a wide grin spreading her cheeks from ear to ear.

Honestly, it looked like something very similar to Hanji’s grin, but less… Evil? That wasn’t the right word, but that was the only one I could apply to Hanji’s grin.

“Eren, you’re a natural!” She told me once we were in the safety of the kitchen.

“Don’t do that again!” I yipped at her. “That was terrifying!”

“You didn’t show it though.” She told me. “Eren, that was perfect. You handled everything just right.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing!” I continued. “Do those hot chocolate things even come with little drawings?”

“Usually that’s a personal touch from Hanji, but Hanji always prides us on doing something different from anyone else, something no one else would do and something that makes the customers feel special.”

“Well then I just messed up.” I scoffed.

“How so…?”

“You said that’s something Hanji does. I didn’t mean to take it from her.”

“Oh please, Eren. She wouldn’t be mad about that. Besides, it’s not the little chocolate drawings that were impressive. It’s the way you handled the situation. Even when you didn’t know you answered with the best answers possible, keeping yourself calm and collected. You kept on smiling that sweet, boyish smile of yours and telling such good jokes, so keep doing that. That’s perfect.” She assured me.

“I-… I don’t know.”

“You’re doing just fine, Eren.” Petra patted my shoulder again, her grin giving way to a genuine and softer smile that looked more caring than the grin did. “I promise.” She said to me.

“Are you sure?”

“If it wasn’t the case I wouldn’t be saying so. We learn by trying and failing, getting back up and doing it again. That’s all there really is to it. You’ll make a few mistakes ever now and again, but don’t let that get you down. You’ve got this in the bag.”

* * *

Once eight o’clock rolled around, I was downright exhausted. It’s slowed down after five, though we had a steady flow of one person or group of people in at a time. After seven, we only had one person come in. After that, Hanji and Petra explained to me the wonders of stock and maintaining things in the kitchen. We always had to have a certain number of foods, mixes, drinks, ect… Present and accounted for at the end of the day before going home. It just assured everyone that tomorrow would move smoother in the morning.

Due to college flow, the traffic would be a little hectic in the morning, so that was the most important time to handle. However, the rest of the day was smoother. It was just a need to keep things organized, which made sense.

After that, we began cleaning. Even Hanji said that the cleanliness was important. It wasn’t just about state laws and regulations that we needed to follow, but the impression we left on people. If our floors were constantly spotless and clear enough to see reflections in them, if our plates were squeaky clean, and everything was dusted to keep the air breathable, then people appreciated it more. That, and Levi, this man I had yet to meet, was so picky about cleaning. It had to be done his way or not at all, and his way consisted of dusting, scrubbing, wiping down, and disinfecting everything. Honestly, it sounded like overkill, but I wasn’t going to argue.

Hanji wanted to do one more countdown of the drawer before leaving, and by then even Petra was sitting down at a table with me, her head nodding back and forth and she tried fighting sleep. We were just waiting for the okay, but I busied myself with counting tips. I was actually a little surprised with myself. Twenty bucks wasn’t bad. If I worked every couple of days, that wasn’t a bad amount in pocket change. That wasn’t even the paycheck either.

Of course I saw Petra counting out her tips earlier. Fifty some dollars by the end of the day. If I was keeping this job, I needed to watch her and see what she did differently that got her better tips, because damn. Fifty dollars in tips was a nice amount of cash to be bringing home a day.

“Ah shoot. We’re out of deposit slips again.” We heard Hanji utter from the cash register.

“Didn’t we just get some from the bank?” Petra asked, the slight distraction enough to wake her up.

“Yes, but I left some in storage. Eren, would you be a dear and go to the basement to get them?” Hanji asked me.

“Me…?”

“Maybe I should go get them, Hanji. We’ve put Eren through enough for today, don’t you think?” Petra asked with a small smile towards me.

“Oh it’s one little thing. Besides, he should know where they are.” Hanji disregarded her comment and looked back past the kitchen. “You see that door there, Eren? That leads to the basement. Down the stairs there will be a box right next to the open door down there. There should be a few more deposit slips in it in a folder marked ‘ect..’ Could you just grab the rest?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” It was one little thing after all. It couldn’t be too hard to do, more or less.

“Thank you, sweetheart! You’re such a big help!” Hanji beamed with joy while Petra sighed, possibly from lack of energy and feeling pity for me. I ignored it though, feigning ignorance at it and keeping my mind on the task at hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was very tempted to leave ChungHee's authors reviews in this. ;3


	10. Sleepy Levi and the case of the Missing Tea Leaves pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL o.O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys guys! Look! I made a chapter, OH MY GOSH. It's on the shorter side, but still. And guess what? It's in flippin Levi POV. LEVI HAS ARRIVED *^*
> 
> I split up his POV chapter into 2 parts, so the last part is still under construction, but I wanted to give you guys something for Christmas! His chappy (this chapter and the next) show his side of everything that's been going on through the story. So we'll be able to see what our wonderful grumpy gnome has been doing since the first chapter. Tell me what you think of my Levi, and if you see any errors, let me know. Misty has been busy so she couldn't edit it yet, but that's fine :3  
> (EDIT: Misty has proofread it. I need to work on my past and pre tense T.T)
> 
> Oh! If anyone wants to know what the song is for Levi's ringtone in the beginning, it's 'Crash' by B.A.P. When I was writing this I had it as my ringtone, so I was like, let's have Levi have the same one ^^. Levi is a Kpop lover too, so him and Eren will have a common ground with that.
> 
> I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY IT!!!!! ^3^/

_“Gaseumi gojangnan geotcheoreom_

 

_nan sarange buri nago_

 

_simjangman kungkwang kungkwang ttwigo_

 

_tto ttwigo_

 

_jebal sallyeojwo_

 

_Your my girl~”_

  


_Who,_ **_the fuck_ ** _, is calling me at...What time is it anyway? Nevermind that but who is it? No, ignore it Levi. If you ignore it, whoever the hell is calling will give up and let you sleep in peace. You’ve been going nonstop for three days, you need sleep. You_ **_need_ ** _to keep you eyes closed, stay in this soft, warm bed and not wake up until four in the afternoon because you are on your three day break and nothing is going to stop-_

  


_“Gaseumi gojangnan geotcheoreom_

 

_nan sarange buri nago_

 

_simjangman kungkwang kungkwang ttwigo_

 

_tto ttwigo_

 

_jebal sallyeojwo_

 

_Your my girl~”_

  
  


_Fuck. Me._

 

I open my eyes slightly and look around cautiously, fearing the sun might shine right in my eyes and blind me. Turns out there was no sun. Hell, the sun wasn’t even rising. The only thing shining in the dark bedroom was my damn phone, sitting right in front of my square lime green alarm clock.

 

Which read 12:25 A.M.

 

I’m sorry, did you not get the first time? Let me say it again then.

 

**_12:25 A.M._ **

 

Now see, I don’t ask for much. I really don’t. All I wanted was a three day break from work to finally relax and rest, because god forbid if I get any more bags under my eyes. But no. Someone has decided to call me on my _very first_ day of break. Correction, I got off of work some hours ago, so technically my break only started a few hours ago, which means that if I need to get my ass outta this bed and go down to that damn Cafe, so help me I will strangle the first person I see.

 

Turning my head back into the pillow, I stuck out my hand and patted around blindly for the stupid phone that was blaring my Kpop ringtone at 12:25 in the morning. On full volume. _Why in the hell did I pick ‘Crash’ as my ringtone anyway? Was I high? I must have been high. I don’t do drugs but I must have been high on something and oh my gosh if this phone doesn’t stop ringing…_

 

I tilt my head to the side to get a better look at the screen, then swipe the green phone icon towards the center. Holding the phone up to my ear, I begin to speak, “Hello?”

 

And my ears are nearly blown out as the banshee on the other line screeches, “LEEEEEEEEEEEVIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!”

_No wonder they kept calling. It was motherfuckin’ Hanji._

 

Clicking the speaker button, I toss the phone haphazardly onto the pillow next to my head and listen to Hanji blab on and on about some shit that my half asleep brain’s not even capable of comprehending. After about four minutes of her constant blabbing I decide to shut her up and figure out why the hell she’s calling at--my eyes scan the clock again-- _12:30_ in the morning.

 

“Hanji...the fuck do you want?” I mumble, burrowing my face into my pillow. The line goes silent for a moment, and I start to drift back to sleep, but Hanji never did have the best timing when it came to me and my life.

 

“Levi! Are you listening? Helloooooooo? You still with me boss?”

 

I groan as if in pain, “You haven’t said anything dipshit. How the hell am I supposed to listen to you when you haven’t said a word?” I hear her sigh all dramatic and Hanji like.

 

“No need to be mean, my grumpy little gnome. Shouldn’t you be nicer to me since I was ever so generous to give you a three day break? Hmm?” I can feel her grin through the phone and I want to punch it off so bad right now.

 

“Oh I’m so, so very sorry Ms.Hanji.” I say, sarcasm oozing from my sickeningly sweet tone, “Would you like me to cut my _well deserved_ three day break short and rush to your side to carry out your every whim and command?”

 

A giggle. “Yes that would be very nice actually. That’s why I’m calling though. I need-”

 

I cut her off, “Nope. I’m staying in this bed. End of discussion. Good night Hanji.” Reaching for the phone by my head, I pick it up and see the picture of Hanji and me on the beach she set as my lock screen when she swiped my phone awhile ago. Her arm around my neck, semi choking me, grinning like a complete idiot while I smile slightly back at her. We were in highschool then, and even though I hate to admit this, lord help me if Hanji heard me say this but, she’s one of my closests friends. I probably wouldn’t have any friends at all if it wasn’t for her, and for that I’m grateful.

Doesn’t mean she hasn’t stopped annoying the piss out of me though.

 

Unfortunately, me going through memory lane gave Hanji enough time to say something that would keep me from hanging up. The five words that I never, ever, _EVER_ wanted to hear in my lifetime.

 

“We’re out of tea leaves!”

 

I swear my brain shut down completely when she said that. After that, the words that she said didn’t make any sense. The only words swirling in my brain were ‘we’re out of tea’.

 

As in no more tea.

 

At all.

 

Gone.

 

Zlitch. Zero. Na to the fucking da.

 

The only thing that jolted me back to reality was Hanji’s shout. “LEVI!!”

 

All I could do was make a dumb, uh huh, sound. “Did you hear anything I said?” my response was a, uh uh. She let out an nearly silent sigh, letting me know how tired and stressed she was. _Then that must mean…_

 

“Look, I didn’t want to call you ok? You really did deserve this break and I felt horrible for calling you but I didn’t know what else to do. I’ve already called Erwin. Well, more like tried, because all I got was his voicemail. I called him three times Levi! Three! Then I decided that I’d have to go and actually _buy_ some tea, and you know that I’m no good at picking out _any_ type of tea, so, I’m just…” she trailed off, sounding even more distressed than before.

 

I didn’t even know how to respond, probably because half of my brain was asleep while the other half was freaking the hell out, so it was just silent. It felt like an hour passed and I was considering just saying, ‘Fuck it’ and going back to sleep and letting Hanji deal with this mess, but then I remembered how stressed out she sounded. Plus the fact that she didn’t even want to bother me since it was my three day break made me decide to stop being a grumpy ass and go help my best friend.

 

Sitting up fully, I toss the covers off of me and move towards the closet holding the phone up to my ear incase Hanji decides to say anything. Upon opening the closet door, I balance the phone perfectly on my shoulder and russel through the different shirts that are hanging up. After picking out a shirt, I grab my favorite pair of black skinny jeans, a fresh pair of boxers, socks, and head to the bathroom. All the rustling and movement must have alerted Hanji, causing her to finally speak after this long spell of silence. “Levi? Levi, what are you doing?”

 

After cutting on the light and placing my clothes  on the toilet lid, I answer her, “I’m getting dressed and coming to the Cafe to help you sort this out. You are at the Cafe right?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah I’m still at the Cafe...but you’re still on break! The only reason I called was for advice on what to do not to make you come down here and help! I gave you those three days off for a reason. Why aren’t you going to stay home?” Hanji says sounding surprised.

 

I roll my eyes at that. _Why? Why she asks. I thought it was pretty obvious._ Putting the phone on speaker and setting it gently on the sink, I begin to strip. “Because there is absolutely no tea leaves to make tea at a shop that serves it, meaning we’re not going to open until we have some tea leaves.” Everything is off and I head to the shower and cut it on, testing the water. “And my best friend came to me in a panic, stressed out not knowing what to do. Did you really think I’d do nothing?”

 

It was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but of course Hanji would be the only one to give an answer. “Yes. I actually thought you wouldn’t.” she says in a serious tone.

 

I pause, stunned. _She actually thought I wouldn’t help her? We’ve been friends for so long, and yeah, I know I can be a total asshole sometimes, but I thought it’d be obvious by now that I’d help her._ “Hanji…”

 

The hurt in my voice was apparent which made Hanji go into a full on frenzy. “Ah! No no no! Levi, I was just joking. Honest! I know that you would be the first to come running if I ever, ever, _ever,_ needed help so don’t sound so sad! I didn’t mean to hurt you feelings!”

 

I breathed out a sigh, “Hanji it’s fine.”

 

“No! I hurt your feelings and and-”

 

“ _Hanji._ It’s fine.”, she tried to speak again but I wouldn’t let her, “Now I’m about to take a quick shower, freshen up and come to the Cafe. We’re going to sit down and see how the hell we can fix this problem before it’s time to open, and then I’m going to go back on my break, understood?”

 

I could hear her sigh in the background and mumble something to herself. She’s probably a bit pissed that I have to get up and come over there but whatever. We need to get this fixed. Once she finished her mumbling she reluctantly spoke, “Fine. I’ll make you some coffee.”

  
“Thank you. I’m hanging up now.” And with that I ended the call. I tossed the phone into one of the many baskets I have in my bathroom and got into the warm shower. _Enjoy this peace while you can Levi, because the next few hours are going to be so fucking stressful._ I let out a big sigh. _Heaven help me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So whatcha think? o.o;


	11. Update  o(TヘTo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Da situation has changed folks -_-'

If there are any typos I'm sorry, I did this on my phone. So, my laptop is pretty much fallin apart, meaning I won't be able to update til I get a new laptop. Hopefully that will be soon. Whenever I update I'll switch out the new chappy for this little update thingy.   
Again, I'm sorry guys   
o(TヘTo) o(TヘTo)


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